X has lost a legal battle in Australia in which the company tried to avoid a $400,000 fine by claiming that Twitter no longer exists. The creative legal argument, first ArsTechnicacame amid a more than year-long dispute with Australia’s eSafety Commission.
The committee had asked the company, then known as Twitter, to provide details of its approach to tackling child sexual exploitation on the platform last February. In its response, X did not answer a number of questions and “left some parts completely blank”, the committee said in a statement . As a result, the eSafety Commission fined the company more than $415,000 for non-compliance.
It was an attempt to challenge that fine that led to X’s claim that it should not be responsible because Twitter “ceased to exist.” From the court filing:
X Corp argued that on and from March 15, 2023, Twitter Inc ceased to be a person, and therefore ceased to be a provider of a social media service. It was argued that Twitter Inc was therefore unable to comply with the notice, and that the notice had been sent.
The argument isn’t exactly new for the Elon Musk-owned entity. CEO Linda Yaccarino has also repeatedly claimed that X is a “brand new company” in an effort to avoid scrutiny. She repeated the phrase several times earlier this year during a Senate hearing on child safety issues.
However, Australian Federal Judge Michael Wheelahan found the claim unpersuasive, saying X’s argument required “leaps of logic not supported by adequate explanation.” X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant welcomed the decision. “Had X Corp’s argument been accepted by the Court, it could have set the precedent that the merger of a foreign company with another foreign company could allow the company to avoid legal obligations in Australia,” Grant said.
