He australian body internet security agency threatened on Thursday to fine Twitter for failing to combat abuse, stating that Elon Musk’s purchase of the network coincided with an increase in “toxicity and hate”.
Cybersecurity Commissioner Julie Inman Grant – a former Twitter employee – said the platform is now responsible for one in three online hate speech complaints reported in Australia.
Inman Grant stated that Twitter is 28 days old to address the issue or face a $700,000 Australian ($475,000) fine for each day you miss the deadline.
Since Musk bought the platform last October, he has cut more than 80% of the world’s Twitter staff, including numerous content moderators tasked with weeding down hate speech.
Twitter seems to have failed to combat hate,” said Inman Grant, who worked in cybersecurity for Twitter after 17 years at Microsoft.
He noted that the Australian body is “far from alone in being concerned about the rising level of toxicity and hate on Twitter, especially directed at marginalized communities.”
Australia is leading the global effort to regulate social media platforms, and it’s not the first time Inman Grant has publicly cited Twitter.
He wrote to Musk last November to express his fear that the staff cuts will leave the company unable to comply with Australian law.
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Indigenous journalist Stan Grant, a respected media figure in Australiasaid in May that he filed a complaint with Twitter over the “relentless racial filth” he faces on the platform.
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