Twitter company at risk after Elon Musk fails to pay Aussie ISP bill
Just $76,200 in unpaid internet bills could bring down a Singapore company that formed a key part of the Twitter empire before its takeover by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk.
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A key Twitter company in Singapore may be shut down by a court for failing to pay about $76,200 in Australian internet bills after Elon Musk took control.
Aussie ISP Vocus claims to be owed the money for wholesale internet transit services it provided to Twitter Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, which is registered in Singapore, since September 2022.
Mr Musk took over Twitter in October 2022 and Vocus claims Twitter Asia Pacific stopped paying its bills the same month.
Before Mr Musk took over Twitter and renamed it X, Twitter Asia Pacific sold ads on the social media network throughout the region, including in Australia.
It is unclear what purpose the company now serves within the X group, and early last year it was reported that workers at the Singapore office were temporarily shut-out after Twitter failed to pay the rent on time.
Plans to expand the Singapore office were also canned after Mr Musk took control of the company.
The social media network has lost 71 per cent of its value since Mr Musk took it over, according to big investment group Fidelity.
This includes a 10.7 per cent cut in November, when Mr Musk told advertisers boycotting the platform to “go f**k yourself”.
In documents filed with the Victorian Supreme Court, Vocus says it served a statutory demand for the $76,200 it claims to be owed at Twitter Asia Pacific’s registered address in Melbourne on November 16, but the company still didn’t pay up.
On December 21, Vocus asked the court to declare Twitter Asia Pacific insolvent and wind it up.
Australian law allows courts to declare overseas companies insolvent and order them to be wound up as long as they are first given 21 days to pay their bills by being served with a statutory demand at their registered office.
Court documents show Vocus billed Twitter Asia Pacific US$8000 (about $A11,000) a month for IP transit from the start of September 2022 to the end of May last year, plus US$533 ($A787) for two days in June last year for a total of US$48,533.
Vocus is one of Australia’s three biggest ISPs and owns a high-speed undersea cable linking Perth to Singapore.
It also owns the Commander, iPrimus and Dodo brands.
According to a document detailing Twitter’s approach to modern slavery, Twitter Asia Pacific worked together with the platform’s Australian subsidiary.
Twitter Asia Pacific’s role was “reselling advertising services available on the Twitter platform throughout the Asia Pacific region, including Australia”, Twitter said in the document.
Singapore company documents show that in 2022 Twitter Asia Pacific had revenue of S$1.2bn ($A1.3bn), and made an operating profit of S$31m ($A34.5m). It has yet to file accounts for 2023.
Vocus has been contacted for comment through its solicitors.
Twitter replied to questions sent to its press contact email address with an automated response stating: “Busy now, please check back later.”
Until recently, Twitter responded to media enquiries with a poop emoji.
Originally published as Twitter company at risk after Elon Musk fails to pay Aussie ISP bill
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