Australia: Australia’s internet safety watchdog has issued a 28-day ultimatum to Twitter, urging the company to address the prevalent “toxicity and hate” on its platform. Failure to comply could result in financial penalties for the social media giant.
Since Mr. Elon Musk, a prominent figure and self-proclaimed advocate of “free speech absolutism,” assumed control of Twitter last year, it has become the platform with the highest number of complaints in Australia.
Twitter reportedly lifted bans on approximately 62,000 accounts, some of which were associated with individuals propagating Nazi rhetoric.
The country’s eSafety Commissioner Ms. Julie Inman Grant stated that the platform was now responsible for one-in-three complaints about online hate in Australia, even though it has far fewer users than TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram.
The eSafety Commissioner, who once worked for Twitter, gave the company 28 days to show it was serious about tackling the problem or face fines of 700,000 Australian dollars ($476,000) for every day it missed the deadline.
“Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate,” Ms. Inman Grant, who worked on cyber safety at the company after 17 years at Microsoft, stated.
“We need accountability from these platforms and action to protect their users, and you cannot have accountability without transparency,” the Commissioner noted.
The e-safety commissioner’s demand comes as Australia prepares for a referendum this year on whether to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution, prompting an increasingly intense debate about race.
Ms. Inman Grant said the watchdog was “far from being alone in its concern about increasing levels of toxicity and hate on Twitter, particularly targeting marginalised communities”.
Australia has spearheaded the global drive to regulate social media platforms, and it is not the first time that Ms. Inman Grant has publicly singled out Twitter.
The Commissioner wrote to Mr. Musk in November last year, expressing fears that the deep staff cuts would leave the company unable to meet Australian laws.
BUSINESS: Kenya & European Union sign trade deal to boost economic ties
