Australia’s online watchdog threatens Twitter with fines as online abuse surges

Australia’s online watchdog threatens Twitter with fines as online abuse surges

June 22 (UPI) — Australia’s Internet watchdog gave Twitter 28 days to respond to a notice Thursday ordering it to show what it is doing to combat “inexcusable” levels of online hate affecting more than 5 million Australians, with indigenous, disabled and LBGTQ people suffering disproportionately.

Elon Musk’s social media network was the most complained about platform in the past 12 months and the subject of an increasing number of reports of serious online abuse since Musk took over in October that breached Twitter’s own rules, eSafety said in a news release.

The watchdog said the rise in complaints coincided with Musk paring down Twitter’s global workforce from 8,000 to 1,500 — including cuts among trust and safety teams that monitor and remove banned content — withdrawing its public policy presence in Australia and reinstating 62,000 blocked accounts in a “general amnesty.”

Julie Inman Grant, eSafety’s commissioner, said although Twitter’s terms of use policies prohibit hateful content the group has observed a “worrying surge in hate online” with almost a fifth of Australians reporting experiencing some form of online hate.

“We are seeing a worrying surge in hate online. eSafety research shows that nearly 1 in 5 Australians have experienced some form of online hate.

“This level of online abuse is already inexcusably high, but if you’re a First Nations Australian, you are disabled or identify as LGBTIQ+ you experience online hate at double the rate of the rest of the population,” Grant said.

Grant added that the rise in hate on the platform was likely a result of Twitter failing to enforce its own rules.

“Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate. A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter,” she said.

“We are also aware of reports that the reinstatement of some of these previously banned accounts has emboldened extreme polarizers, peddlers of outrage and hate, including neo-Nazis both in Australia and overseas.”

Twitter faces fines of up to $475,000 for each day for continued breaches if fails to respond within the time limit.

The action follows a bid earlier this year to engage with Twitter and other platforms about what it is doing to address child sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual extortion and the promotion of harmful content by its algorithms.

Twitter lost its second head of trust and safety in seven months earlier this month with the resignation of Ella Irwin after Musk publicly criticized a decision to restrict the availability of a video that allegedly attributed the genders of its subject incorrectly.

“Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws,” Musk wrote.

Musk stepped down as CEO on June 5 after appointing Linda Yaccarino to replace him.

The EU has also taken a tough line with industry chief Thierry Breton warning that Twitter’s withdrawal from the European Union’s voluntary disinformation code of practice last month would not excuse it from complying with new legislation coming down the track.

“Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide,” Breton said in a Twitter post.

“Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be a legal obligation under the Digital Services Act as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement.”

Grant said eSafety’s action against Twitter was further backed by advocacy groups in the United States and Britain raising similar concerns about “increasing levels of toxicity and hate on Twitter” that targeted marginalized communities in particular.

New York-based GLAAD’s 2023 Social Media Safety Index placed Twitter top of the list of platforms most hateful towards the LGBTQ community while Britain’s Center for Countering Digital Hate found that slurs against African Americans on Twitter surged from 1,282 a day to 3,876 a day after Musk took over.

“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,” Grant said.