Australia's internet safety watchdog has hit Elon Musk's SpaceX and Twitter subsidiary X with a $385,000 fine for failing to tackle child sexual abuse content, AFP reports.
"We need to see words backed up with tangible action," says Julie Inman Grant, the country's eSafety commissioner.
Inman Grant, a former Twitter employee, says X's response to legal notices sent in February to show how it was moderating and removing extreme content was either "empty talk" or because its systems were not up to scratch.
"Both scenarios are concerning to us and suggest they are not living up to their responsibilities and the expectations of the Australian community," Inman Grant says.
Inman Grant says proactive detection of child sexual exploitation on X fell from 90% to 75% in the three months after Musk's October takeover of the company.
"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," she says.
"We need to see words backed up with tangible action."
Inman Grant has also issued a formal warning to Google for falling short of its responsibilities around tackling child abuse material.
Google says it has developed a "range of technologies" to detect, report
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Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.