Australia threatens Twitter with fine for online hate

An Australian cyber regulator has announced that Twitter is the country's most complained about platform and had demanded that Twitter explain its handling of online hate.

The eSafety Commissioner has called for Twitter to detail its handling of online child abuse which the regulator claims has increased since Elon Musk took over.

The Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant has sent a legal notice to Twitter demanding an explanation. The letter calls for Twitter to explain its impact assessments when reinstating banned accounts, how the platform engaged with communities who were subject to online hate, and how it was enforcing its own policies which ban hateful conduct.

She said that one-third of all complaints that she receives about online hate are in relation to Twitter, despite the fact that the social media platform has fewer users than TikTok, Facebook or Instagram.

Twitter has 28 days to respond to the notice or face a daily fine of A$700,000.

In a statement, Inman Grant said: "Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate. "We need accountability from these platforms and action to protect their users, and you cannot have accountability without transparency and that's what legal notices like this one are designed to achieve."