An Australian federal court has fined X Corp., the company that owns Elon Musk's social media platform X, 650,000 Australian dollars (approximately €398,500) for failing to provide information to the country's online safety regulator about how it tackled child sexual exploitation content. The ruling, handed down on Thursday by Federal Court Justice Michael Wheelahan, ends a legal dispute that stretched nearly three years and saw the company initially resist the regulator's authority to demand such disclosures.

The case centres on a transparency notice issued on 22 February 2023 by the eSafety Commissioner, Australia's government agency responsible for online safety regulation, to Twitter Inc. — the platform that was in the process of being acquired by Musk for $44 billion and subsequently rebranded as X. The company was required to answer around 25 questions about its anti-child exploitation measures by 29 March 2023, but admitted in court to a period of non-compliance lasting approximately 38 days. X's lawyer described the lapse as reflecting a "period of change and transition for the company" during the ownership handover. The company had also initially sought to challenge the original fine of A$610,500 on the grounds that it had changed its name since the acquisition.

Justice Wheelahan raised the penalty to A$650,000 and ordered X to pay an additional A$100,000 toward the regulator's legal costs within 45 days. Both sides agreed the revised figure was appropriate. The eSafety Commissioner's lawyer noted that no direct harm resulted from the non-disclosure, but argued that withholding information from a regulator obstructs its ability to function. The fine's size was justified on the basis that a larger company required a more significant penalty to ensure violations were not simply absorbed as a routine cost of doing business.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, a former Twitter employee herself, said transparency was essential for holding technology platforms to account. "This is not only a key part of our work as Australia's online safety regulator, it also provides the Australian public with important information about how these companies are tackling the worst-of-the-worst content on their platforms," she said. Sources familiar with the matter indicated X was prepared to pay the fine and move on from the dispute.

The case highlights growing tensions between major social media companies and national regulators seeking greater accountability over harmful content. For X, which was recently folded into Musk's broader technology conglomerate SpaceX ahead of a planned public offering, the settlement draws a line under one of several ongoing regulatory clashes across multiple jurisdictions.