The eSafety Commissioner said proactive detection of child abuse fell from 90 to 75 per cent over the three months after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter (now X).
Australia’s eSafety commissioner has fined X – previously Twitter – more than $600,000 for failing to explain how it was fighting child abuse, amid revelations the social media platform reduced efforts to detect illegal material after its purchase by billionaire Elon Musk.
The information it received showed YouTube, TikTok and Twitch were taking steps to catch child abuse in livestreams and detect grooming, but Twitter, Discord and Google were not. Google was not using its own technology to detect known child abuse videos, the commissioner said. The commissioner’s report found said Twitter did not comply with its notice, by failing to respond at all to some questions or providing answers that were wrong or incomplete. The company has been issued with a fine for $610,500, which it has 28 days to pay.
If the court found in favour of the commissioner, Twitter could be issued with a daily fine of more than $700,000, she said.