The Australian government announced that it would fine X after failing to share information on how the company handles the issue of child exploitation within its platform.
X to Pay Thousands of Dollars to Australia
The New York Times reported that X is subject to pay 610, 500 Australian dollars, equivalent to $384,000. The Australian government cited that the company failed to comply with the national law requirement which states that social media platforms should disclose how they combat child exploitation within their services.
According to Australia's commissioner in charge of online safety, Julie Inman Grant, companies can easily make empty promises that they are doing everything to prevent child exploitation on their platform. Hence, the government is pressed to have these companies show their policies and strategies that make their promises true.
"This is important not only in terms of deterrence in the types of defiance we are seeing from the companies but because this information is in the public interest," Grant stated.
Elon Musk Promised to Suspend Accounts With Abusive Content
When Musk acquired the company he made a series of changes that affected the platform's content moderation rules. Earlier this year, the X owner announced that the company is suspending hundreds of thousands of accounts that were seen sharing abusive material. However, it seems that the effort was deemed unfruitful as such materials are still seen on the platform.
X explained to the Australian authorities that the company's detection of child abuse material has improved. In addition, the company has firmed that they have a "zero-tolerance policy" on child sexual abuse material and promised to put more work into detecting these types of materials. Currently, X shared that they are using automated software and have teamed up with experts who can detect and review content.
Both Google and X failed to provide the needed information to the Australian government. However, Google was only given a warning as X's lack of response was more grave. On the other hand, the company can still appeal the fine.
