Australia Imposes Penalty on Entity X for Remaining Silent on Alleged Child Pornography Materials
Aussie's Digital Cop Fines X (Ex-Twitter) for Neglecting Child Safety
In a bold move by Australia's eSafety commissioner, X, previously known as Twitter, received a hefty fine for disregarding the country's Online Safety Act. The accusation? Failure to tackle child sexual exploitation on the platform. Incidents like sexual extortion and live-streaming abuse were left unchecked.
Commissioner Julie Inman Grant smacked X with a whopping AUD $610,500 fine, equivalent to approximately $386,147 USD, for brushing off previous warnings regarding child exploitation content. X only has 28 days to pay up or contest the infringement notice; if they don't respond within the timeframe, the commissioner may take additional action.
Giant tech firms like Google, TikTok, Twitch, and Discord also faced similar warnings to address child sexual abuse and exploitation. Although Google has not provided comprehensive responses to queries, Grant noted that X's non-compliance seemed more severe. X declined to answer some questions, while leaving other sections incomplete or inaccurate, according to the news release.
X apparently missed the mark on several crucial queries regarding child exploitation, such as response times for reporting, methods to detect live streaming abuse, and the tech tools used to detect child sexual exploitation material.
Since Elon Musk acquired X for an eye-popping $44 billion, the detection of child sexual exploitation dropped from 90% to 75%. Grant asserted, "It's not enough for Twitter/X to simply claim tackling child sexual exploitation as their top priority; we need to see tangible action to back it up."
If X and Google fail to provide satisfactory answers to key questions about combating child sexual exploitation, Grant suspects they either don't want to address public perception issues or lack the necessary mechanisms to evaluate their operations. "Both scenarios raise concerns and suggest they're falling short of their responsibilities and the Australian community's expectations," Grant warned.
Introduced in 2021, Australia's Online Safety Act demands online companies to divulge information about their safety practices or face substantial fines. The tech corporations must meet multiple requirements, including safeguarding children from harmful or illegal content, supplying user reporting mechanisms, and cooperating with the eSafety commissioner, among others.
Commissioner Inman Grant expressed surprise when she struggled to obtain precise and detailed information from some companies, even those with advanced systems and resources. "In X's case, I was taken aback by their unwillingness or inability to provide the required information that other companies had easily provided," she shared with The Guardian.
Recently, Musk dismantled X's Trust and Safety Council, a body tasked with managing content such as child exploitation. Commissioner Inman Grant revealed that she couldn't obtain information about the number of trust and safety employees still employed at X after Musk's takeover.
Insight:- While Elon Musk's X Corp is battling compliance with Australia's Online Safety Act, specific details about the measures implemented since Musk's acquisition to combat child sexual exploitation are not easily accessible.- X Corp's ongoing legal disputes suggest a continuous debate about complying with Australian regulations rather than clear compliance measures being publicly revealed.- Other platforms, such as Snapchat, have provided updates on their efforts to combat child sexual exploitation, highlighting industry-wide challenges and attempts to address this issue.- The push for stricter regulations, such as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) in the U.S., seeks to protect minors from various online harms, including exploitation.
- The Australian eSafety commissioner fined tech company X, formerly known as Twitter, for neglecting child safety, citing failing mechanisms to combat child sexual exploitation on the platform.
- The fine of AUD $610,500 equates to approximately $386,147 USD, with 28 days for X to pay or contest the infringement notice.
- Other tech giants like Google, TikTok, Twitch, and Discord have also received warnings to address child sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Commissioner Julie Inman Grant alleges that X's non-compliance appears more severe, as they have been evasive or inaccurate in responses to queries.
- Gizmodo reported that since Elon Musk's acquisition of X, the detection of child sexual exploitation has decreased from 90% to 75%.
- Grant suspects that X and Google are either unwilling or lacking the mechanisms to effectively address child sexual exploitation, raising concerns about their commitment to online safety and the expectations of the Australian community.
