Source : Perth Now news
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner cannot subject billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform to stricter online safety regulations, a court has ruled.
Julie Inman Grant had claimed X and other social media platforms were more correctly regulated under a standard broader than the pre-existing social media services code because they have the capacity to enable messaging and encrypted chat between users.
That functionality made social media services more susceptible to the sharing of harmful content, the eSafety office said.
However, X argued it was transferred to the stricter code that applies to all electronic services without consultation.
Federal Court Justice Elizabeth Raper on Wednesday agreed with the social media platform.
Trying to rescind the social media code under that criteria is unreasonable, X’s barrister Perry Herzfeld SC had argued.
“It would be rather perverse for a social media service … not to enable messaging or chat between end users,” he said.
“One would not refer to the X platform as an instant messaging service.”
Mr Herzfeld claimed the commissioner did not follow the legal requirement of notifying stakeholders before enacting major changes to an online safety standard.
“The commissioner can’t be empowered to make a standard without that standard having gone through that process of public consultation,” he said.
“The commissioner is seeking to have her cake and eat it too.”
Ms Inman Grant’s barrister had argued X was given plenty of time to raise objections.
The standard was to come into force six months after it was made public.
“That six-month period provided the opportunity … if they needed, to make representations to the commissioner for why it should be varied,” Christopher Tran said.
The eSafety Commissioner was contacted for comment.
