Mr Musk, who has been battling with the Australian government and eSafety commissioner over allowing violent videos on the platform, told them to “go f— yourself”.

The alleged attack on a bishop in western Sydney was deemed an act of terrorism and commissioner Julie Inman Grant sought Federal Court action to force X to take down 65 postings of graphic footage.

She is seeking to do that under the powers the parliament granted her – under the Morrison government – in the Online Safety Act in 2021.

Undesirable business

A glimpse into the Australian entity presents an undesirable business. With $3.4 million in revenue, Twitter Australia Holdings spent $1.2 million on sales and marketing, $285,000 on administration, $99,000 on research and development, and $21,000 on anything else.

Its operating profit for the first six months of 2023 was $1.9 million – almost all of which went to the tax office. Its net profit was $4804.

Salaries were slashed 87 per cent, to $1.2 million from $9 million. Bonuses were cut to $258,000 from $1.4 million – an 82 per cent fall. Marketing expenses were cut 93 per cent, to just $61,000 from $821,000.

Facilities expenses were slashed by 99 per cent to just $2880 – after the axe fell, most employees were working from home.

It even saved thousands of dollars on its audit bill by switching from KPMG Australia to RSM Australia Partners, which billed $25,500 in 2023.

Twitter paid $1.5 million as a dividend to its parent in 2023, and the financial statements said it paid $2.9 million in January 2024. After paying more than $1 million to its executives in 2022, and despite having a listed managing director for Australia (Angus Keene), there were no “key management personnel” identified in 2023.

Small player

Twitter has always been a relatively tiny part of the Australian advertising landscape. In 2021, Twitter made $14.8 million in revenue in an advertising market worth $19.7 billion, according to PwC estimates.

Twitter’s cash flows reveal it received $8.2 million in receipts over the half, down from the 2022 calendar year’s $21.6 million.

The local company reported “no revenue generating activities” from July 1 last year, being in the process of winding up. The financials lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission were prepared on “a non-going-concern basis”.

“Twitter Australia Holdings Pty Ltd has ceased all revenue generating activities effective from 1 July 2023 and is expected to deregister the company in 2024.”