X fails to avoid Australia child safety fine by arguing Twitter doesn’t exist

Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) remains on the hook for an approximately $400,000 fine after failing to respond to an Australia eSafety Commission 2023 inquiry, which largely sought to probe measures X is currently taking to combat an alleged proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platform.

To void the fine, X tried to persuade Australian Judge Michael Wheelahan that X had no obligation to comply with an Online Safety Act notice issued to Twitter because Twitter "ceased to exist" a few weeks after receiving the notice—when Musk merged the app into his company X Corp.

Wheelahan summarized X's argument as saying that "X Corp was not obliged to prepare any report in Twitter Inc’s place, as X Corp was not the same person as the provider to whom the notice was issued."

But Wheelahan ruled Friday that the fine should be upheld, rejecting the "bare premise" that X assumed no legal responsibility to respond to the notice after Twitter ceased to exist.

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