Tech mogul Elon Musk has attacked the Australian government over proposed laws that would fine social media giants for failing to stem the spread of misinformation
AFP

An Australian court has ordered Elon Musk's X to pay a fine of AU$610,500 (US$418,000) for neglecting to respond to a regulator's inquiry regarding practices to combat child abuse.

X faced controversy after failing to comply with Australia's internet safety regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, following which, the latter had issued a notice. X challenged the resulting fine, but the court dismissed the appeal, Reuters reported.

In 2023, the eSafety Commissioner had issued the AU$610,500 fine for failing to effectively respond to questions regarding harmful content involving children on its platform, reported ABC.net.au.

The penalty could attract daily fines of AU$780,000 for each day the company did not respond.

Musk reorganized Twitter into a new firm called X in 2022 after taking the company private. As the restructuring removed its responsibility, X claimed in early 2023 that it was not required to reply to a regulatory notice.

"Had X Corp's argument been accepted by the Court it could have set the concerning precedent that a foreign company's merger with another foreign company might enable it to avoid regulatory obligations in Australia," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.

X Corp's barrister Bret Walker SC argued Twitter's U.S. merger with X Corp invalidated existing sanctions and required penalty proceedings to restart. Countering the argument, Commissioner's barrister Stephen Lloyd stated that Twitter's assets and liabilities transferred to X Corp, maintaining liability, as Twitter wasn't dissolved during the March 2023 merger.

Justice Wheelahan said X was unable to demonstrate that it was excused from answering the regulatory notification.

"The status of X Corp changed so that it became the surviving entity into which Twitter Inc merged," the judge said.

"From the perspective of Nevada law, X Corp's new status entailed being subject to all the liabilities, including the regulatory obligations, to which Twitter Inc had been subject immediately before it merged into X Corp."