X misplaced a court docket battle after making an attempt to say ‘Twitter ceased to exist’

X has misplaced a authorized combat in Australia by which the corporate tried to keep away from a $400,000 effective by claiming that Twitter not exists. The inventive authorized argument, first ArsTechnica, got here amid a greater than year-long dispute with Australia’s eSafety Fee.

The fee had requested the corporate, then often called Twitter, to offer particulars about its dealing with of kid sexual exploitation on the platform final February. In its response, X didn’t reply numerous questions and left “some sections completely clean,” the fee mentioned in a press release . Because of this, the eSafety Fee slapped the corporate with a greater than $415,000 effective for non-compliance.

It was an try and combat that effective that led to X’s declare that it shouldn’t be accountable since Twitter had “ceased to exist.” From the court filing:

The argument isn’t precisely new for the Elon Musk-owned entity. CEO Linda Yaccarino has additionally repeatedly claimed that X is a “model new firm” in a bid to keep away from scrutiny. She repeated the road a number of occasions earlier this 12 months at a Senate listening to on little one issues of safety.

Australia federal Decide Michael Wheelahan, nevertheless, discovered the declare unconvincing, saying that X’s argument required “leaps in logic that weren’t supported by enough clarification.” X didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

In , eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant cheered the choice. “Had X Corp’s argument been accepted by the Courtroom it may have set the regarding precedent {that a} overseas firm’s merger with one other overseas firm would possibly allow it to keep away from regulatory obligations in Australia,” Grant mentioned.