X, formerly Twitter, has been hit with a $610,500 (AUD) penalty from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner over shortfalls in preventing online child sex abuse.

In February, the Australian regulator issued legal notices to X, Google, TikTok, Twitch and Discord under the Online Safety Act which required them to answer questions about measures they have in place to tackle the issue.

A report by the watchdog, which summarises their answers, revealed “serious shortfalls” in how some companies detect, remove and prevent child sexual abuse material and grooming.

The eSafety commissioner also found that both X and Google did not comply with the notices given to them, with both failing to adequately answer a number of questions.

Google was issued a formal warning, while X’s non-compliance was found to be more serious after failing to provide any response to some questions.

“Twitter/X has stated publicly that tackling child sexual exploitation is the number one priority for the company, but it can’t just be empty talk, we need to see words backed up with tangible action,” said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.“If Twitter/X and Google can’t come up with answers to key questions about how they are tackling child sexual exploitation they either don’t want to answer for how it might be perceived publicly or they need better systems to scrutinise their own operations.

"Both scenarios are concerning to us and suggest they are not living up to their responsibilities and the expectations of the Australian community.”

X failed to answer a questions about the time it takes the platform to respond to reports of child sexual exploitations; the measures it has in place to detect child sexual exploitation in livestreams; and the tools and tech it uses to detect child exploitation material.

The company also failed to adequately answer questions relating to the number of safety and public policy staff still employed at X following Elon Musk's October 2022 acquisition and subsequent job cuts.

X has 28 days to request the withdrawal of the fine or to pay the penalty.

If the social media giant chooses not to pay, it is open to the Commissioner to take further action.

The news follows a previous report by the regulator which featured Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Skype, Snap, WhatsApp, and Omegle, which also revealed "serious" shortcomings in how they were addressing the issue.

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