Sydney—Australia’s internet safety watchdog on Thursday threatened to fine Twitter for failing to tackle online abuse, saying Elon Musk’s takeover had coincided with a spike in “toxicity and hate”.
E-safety commissioner Julie Inman Grant—a former Twitter employee—said the platform was now responsible for one-in-three complaints about online hate speech reported in Australia.
Inman Grant said Twitter had 28 days to show it was serious about tackling the problem or face fines of Aus$700,000 (US$475,000) for every day it missed the deadline.
She said Twitter must come back with a series of concrete steps showing “what it is doing to prevent online hate on its platform and enforce its own rules”.
“We need accountability from these platforms and action to protect their users,” she said.
“And you cannot have accountability without transparency, and that’s what legal notices like this one are designed to achieve.”
Since Musk bought the platform in October 2022, he has slashed more than 80 percent of the global workforce, including many of the content moderators responsible for stamping out abuse.
In November, Musk declared a broad amnesty that allowed tens of thousands of suspended or banned accounts to rejoin the platform.