Safety issues put X on the spot

The eSafety Commissioner is suing X for more than $600,000 after the platform failed to detail its measures to tackle child sexual exploitation material, then failed to pay a subsequent fine for that failure.

The Commissioner issued X with a fine of $610,500 earlier this year after the platform failed to detail properly – and in some cases did not answer questions at all – the measures it has in place to limit the proliferation of child sexual exploitation, sexual extortion and the livestreaming of child sexual abuse.

The social media platform, bought by Elon Musk for $US44bn just more than a year ago, refused to pay the fine and lodged a legal claim in November in the Federal Court asking for a judicial review of the eSafety Commissioner’s decision.

The Commissioner has now asked that its new civil penalty proceedings be joined to that case to avoid further delays.

X was first asked to respond to the request to detail how it was meeting the Basic Online Safety Expectations in relation to child sexual exploitation and abuse material in February.

The platform failed to respond adequately, and failed to respond to some questions at all, “leaving some sections entirely blank’’, the Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said when issuing the fine in October.

“In other instances, Twitter/ X provided a response that was otherwise incomplete and/or inaccurate,” Ms Inman Grant, said.

“Twitter/X did not respond to a number of key questions, including the time it takes the platform to respond to reports of child sexual exploitation; the measures it has in place to detect child sexual exploitation in livestreams; and the tools and technologies it uses to detect child sexual exploitation material.

“The company also failed to adequately answer questions relating to the number of safety and public policy staff still employed at Twitter/X following the October 2022 acquisition and subsequent job cuts.”

Ms Inman Grant said at the time that X’s responses were disappointing.