In a decisive move against online child exploitation, Australia has imposed a hefty penalty on the ‘X Platform’, owned by the renowned American entrepreneur Elon Musk. The platform faces a fine nearing $390,000 for its inadequate response in combating content that depicts child maltreatment.
This development follows Musk’s November statement, where he emphasized that “eradicating child exploitation content is a priority.” Contrasting this, the Australian Internet Safety watchdog criticized these remarks, deeming them “empty” in light of the platform’s actions.
The BBC network cited insider sources from the company suggesting that X Platform’s inability to safeguard its users emerged following a wave of mass layoffs within the platform.
Introduced in 2021, Australian regulations dictate that should the fine not be paid, regulatory bodies have the right to legally pursue the company. Google, another tech titan, has also received a warning for non-compliance related to addressing child abuse content. However, the non-compliance of X Platform was deemed more severe. The regulatory body reported that the platform failed to “provide any response to certain queries, leaving some sections completely unanswered.”
Further, the authority highlighted, “X Platform/Twitter did not reply to many pivotal questions, including the platform’s response time to reports about child sexual exploitation, the measures taken to detect child sexual exploitation during live streams, and the tools and techniques utilized to identify child sexual exploitation materials.”
Given the technological advancements and resources available to large platforms like X Platform, their inability to combat such grave issues raises substantial concerns about online safety and the role these platforms play in ensuring it.
