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A freedom of information request has revealed that Australia’s eSafety Commissioner contacted Twitter to warn the company of a rise in hate speech during the debate over the Voice to Parliament – and that Twitter has failed to adequately respond.
The Guardian made the FOI request following the eSafety Commissioner’s initial representation to Twitter – now formally known as X – in June, when the commissioner said that Twitter wasn’t doing enough to tackle hate speech and cyber harassment.
“Twitter appears to have dropped the ball on tackling hate,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in June. “A third of all complaints about online hate reported to us are now happening on Twitter.”
The FOI request revealed communications between an “eSafety cyber abuse manager” and a Twitter staff member, wherein the eSafety worker warned Twitter of a possible rise in abusive material relating to the Voice debate.
“We are preparing for the likely increase in online hate speech that will be directed towards First Nations people as a result of the upcoming Voice to Parliament referendum,” The Guardian reported the email said. “We are keen to chat with you about some of the unique forms of hate speech experienced by our First Nations people and provide some Australian contextual information to assist in identifying hate speech targeting our First Nations people.”
Another email from eSafety followed, listing in detail the kinds of hate speech being observed. However, there were no replies to the emails.
Since Elon Musk’s shaky takeover of the company in late 2023, many accounts that had been banned for abusive or racist behaviour have been reinstated, and the reporting of abuse on the platform has become less and less reliable.
“We are seeing a worrying surge in hate online,” Inman Grant said in June. “eSafety research shows that nearly one in five 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.”
In June, eSafety had used its regulatory powers to issue a legal notice to the company, demanding it respond, with failure to comply within 28 days leading to a possible $700,000 for each day that it remained silent.
An extension has now been granted to the social media platform following a response from Twitter, which eSafety “intends to publish” in time.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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