Australian judge fines X $465,000 for online safety breach after 3-year court battle

Key points

• MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian judge fined X Corp.
• 650,000 Australian dollars ($465,000) on Thursday for failing to provide information to an online safety watchdog in 2023 about how it tackled child sexual exploitation content.
• Federal Court Justice Michael Wheelahan also ordered the Texas-based social media giant to pay AU$100,000 ($71,000) of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant’s court costs within 45 days.
• The ruling ends a three-year legal battle in which X had argued it was not obliged to answer eSafety’s questions.
• X admitted it contravened Australia’s Online Safety Act by failing to provide a report that fully answered questions posed by eSafety in a transparency notice issued on Feb.