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Twitter or X in Trouble with the Australian Government · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello everybody and welcome back to the show.
• 0:02
  Today's episode is an important one, as we'll be discussing the
• 0:05
  consequences of Australia's Online Safety Act and its first
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  substantial action against a major tech platform, X, formerly
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  known as Twitter. And the platform faces a fine
• 0:16
  for failing to answer questions from Australia's Safety
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  Commissioner about his efforts to tackle Child Exploitation and
• 0:23
  grooming. This could potentially have
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  significant consequences not just for X, but also for other
• 0:29
  tech platforms, advertisers and users alike.
• 0:33
  In March of 2023, E Safety Commissioner Julie Ingham Grant
• 0:38
  handed down the decision to find X around $380,000 after the
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  platform failed to respond to key questions related to child
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  safety. While this may seem like a
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  paltry sum for a corporation of this scale, a real damage may be
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  to XS reputation. And what's more, failure to
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  comply could result in steeper fines, up to 493,402 dollars
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  daily back dated all the way to March.
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  Inman Grant points out that this is also addressing some of the
• 1:09
  most heinous crimes committed against children.
• 1:12
  Now, it's worth noting that all tech companies, including Meta,
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  Apple, Google and others were found to have serious shortfalls
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  of combating child sexual abuse materials.
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  See Sam and Grooming. Whoever XS non compliance was
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  specifically described as more serious.
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  In some instances, X chose not to answer questions at all,
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  while in others it provided inaccurate information.
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  This is particularly concerning, especially when considering the
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  responsibilities of a platform with such broad user base, which
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  includes young adults and teenagers.
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  And earlier this year X stated that it was working hard to make
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  his platform safer, specifically to keep child sexual
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  exploitation material off its domain.
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  However, Australia's E Safety report clarified that XS
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  proactive detection of C Sam fell to 75% from 90% after mass
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  layoffs. This is problematic because it
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  contradicts the company's own public statements.
• 2:11
  Now, the E Safety report was not kind to X, pointing out that
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  they failed to provide median response times for user reports
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  about CSAM. They were not alone, as Google
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  also failed to offer this metric, but it's a critical
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  measurement to evaluate how swiftly a platform reacts to and
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  removes harmful content. Besides, the report also raised
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  concern about X's lack of investment in technology to
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  prevent Child Exploitation during live streams or detect
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  grooming activities. Although X claims that children
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  are not our target customer, reports show that Generation Z,
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  aged between 11 and 26, is the platform's fastest growing
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  demographic. For the Australians, this isn't
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  just about imposing fines or regulations.
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  According to Inman Grant, the goal is to force these platforms
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  into greater transparency and thereby improve online safety
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  measures. Inman Grant acknowledges that
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  while many platforms may find this process confronting, it's
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  essential for the sake of child safety.
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  But it wasn't just X that came under the E safety commissioner
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  scrutiny. Google received a formal warning
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  for failing to provide sufficient responses.
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  Google's reluctance to comply despite its maturity and
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  resources puzzled Grant. Both Google and X seem to be
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  failing in their corporate responsibilities to keep their
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  platform safe, particularly for children.
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  And a major point of concern is this issue is that X did not
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  provide meeting response times to user reports of sexual Child
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  Exploitation material. Now this missing information
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  obscures how swiftly X addresses and removes harmful content,
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  creating a lack of transparency that is both problematic for
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  regulators and to the public. Google was also cited, and
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  another worrisome aspect lies in X's customer base.
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  While the company maintains that its services are not
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  overwhelmingly used by children, Linda Yaccarino confirmed once
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  again that Gen. Z is rising in the ranks now.
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  Our particular focus of E Safety's enforcement efforts is
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  to encourage universal reporting method for CSAM across platforms
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  as a potential path towards increased transparency.
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  This could streamline the process of monitoring and
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  eliminating hazardous content, improving safety measures more
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  systematically in the long run. However, E Safety's report
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  clearly spells out that X's response to compliance notices
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  have been disappointing and their commissioner was vocal
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  about the need for tangible action.
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  Her viewpoint echoes a broader sentiment.
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  Tech companies, regardless of their size or the reputation,
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  must put child safety at the forefront of their operations.
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  X isn't alone in falling short of the regulatory expectations,
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  though. Google, for example, was also
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  issued a formal warning, and the platform did not provide
• 5:00
  satisfactory answers to questions posed, adhering
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  instead to vague and generic responses.
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  This suggests that even tech giants are struggling, or
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  perhaps unwilling to fully engage with regulators on these
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  significant issues. And even more perplexing
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  situation is Google's failure to use its own CSAI match
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  technology to detect known child sexual exploitation videos on
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  some of its services. This raises questions about why
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  such a technologically advanced company would not utilize
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  available tools to combat this grave issue.
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  The debate extends beyond just X and Google.
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  It impacts the entire tech industry.
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  Various other companies, including major names like Apple
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  and Microsoft, have been noted for having serious shortfalls in
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  their measures against Child Exploitation.
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  And given these gaps, there's a growing urgency for tighter
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  regulations that enforce stricter standards.
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  Australians Online Safety Act sets a precedent in holding tech
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  companies accountable for their role in online safety.
• 6:00
  This legislation and the action stemming from it could inspire
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  similar measures globally. But for that to happen, there
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  needs to be an industry wide awakening.
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  Companies must be proactive, transparent and fully compliant
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  in their approaches to online safety.
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  Now thank you so much for joining me today on the show.
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  We've covered a lot of ground in this course, so to keep these
• 6:20
  conversations going. So Please remember to hit the
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• 6:27
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• 6:33
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• 6:37
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• 6:40
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