Australia Court Rules Against Elon Musk’s X in Online Safety Dispute

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X has lost a major legal battle in Australia after a federal court upheld penalties against the company over failures linked to child protection compliance.

The case stemmed from actions taken by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, which accused X Corp of failing to adequately respond to official requests for information regarding measures designed to combat online child exploitation and abuse material on the platform.

During proceedings at the Federal Court in Sydney, lawyers representing X admitted the company breached provisions of Australia’s Online Safety Act by delaying its response to the regulator’s notice. Court documents revealed the noncompliance lasted for about 38 days.

Judge Michael Wheelahan ordered X to pay a fine of A$650,000 (about US$465,000) and an additional A$100,000 to cover part of the regulator’s legal expenses. The ruling effectively ends a legal dispute that began nearly three years ago.

The eSafety Commissioner had initially issued the notice in 2023, requesting details from major technology companies on how they were addressing child sexual exploitation content online. X, formerly known as Twitter, challenged the fine by arguing the request was directed at Twitter before the company’s rebranding after Musk’s acquisition in 2022.

Although the regulator acknowledged there was no direct evidence of harm caused by the delay, officials argued that failure to cooperate with lawful information requests undermines efforts to enforce online safety standards and protect children from exploitation online.

The ruling marks another regulatory setback for X, which has faced increasing scrutiny globally over content moderation, transparency, and online safety policies since Elon Musk took over the platform.