X, formerly Twitter, owes the Australian government some money.
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Elon Musk's microblogging site has to pay the equivalent of $418,000 USD because of its refusal to work with Australian online safety regulators regarding the site's anti-child abuse policies.
The country's eSafety Commissioner filed a notice to X seeking information about the site's child abuse policies — and X has so far refused to cooperate.
X contested the penalty
X challenged the fine in Australian court, but the court system upheld the charge. The company's side of the story is that, since Musk made X private in 2022, it's not obligated to abide by Australia's regulations. Australia disagreed — and now we're here.
Per NBC, Musk's social network and Australia have feuded in the past. The Aussie government ordered a takedown of a violent stabbing video filmed in Australia, which Musk alleged was censorship. The post ultimately stayed up. It should be noted that Musk has not actually been that committed to free speech on X since he took over. Specifically, X has historically complied with takedown requests from countries like Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
We'll see if Australia's government ever gets that check.
