Australian Court Upholds Fine Against X Over Child Safety Compliance Failure

An Australian court has upheld a fine against Elon Musk’s X Corp after it admitted failing to comply with child safety regulations, resolving a three-year legal dispute, Helen Livingstone reported for BBC News.

Australia’s eSafety Commission has previously fined major tech companies over compliance issues. 

Australia’s eSafety regulator initially issued the fine in 2023 after X failed to respond adequately to requests for information on how it addressed child exploitation online.

The company argued it was not obligated to comply with the request because it was issued before Twitter merged into X Corp. However, the court rejected that argument.

X has been ordered to pay an A$650,000 fine, along with additional legal costs. The court said the penalty was necessary to ensure deterrence for large technology companies.