Britain investigates Elon Musk’s X over Grok’s sexualized AI images

AI
By Editor_1
Grok’s prompt page on a phone, October 2025. British authorities on Monday (January 12, 2025) announced an investigation into X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, over the spread of artificially generated sexual images of women and children -Andria Lo/The New York Times

By Adam Satariano

LONDON — British authorities on Monday (12) increased pressure on X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, after it was used to create and spread artificially generated sexual images of women and children.

Next week the government will begin more aggressively enforcing a law that makes it illegal for individuals to create nonconsensual intimate images, said Liz Kendall, Britain’s technology secretary. She said the government would also draft legislation to make it illegal for companies to provide tools designed to make such illicit images.

Sexually explicit images generated by Grok, Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot, have flooded X in recent weeks. In response to simple user prompts on X, the chatbot automatically created and publicly posted manipulated photos of real people, including children, in skimpy clothing and in sexually provocative situations.

Many women who have been subjects of the Grok-generated sexualized images have reacted with horror and called on Musk to remove features that allow such activity.

Kendall said the fake images were “weapons of abuse disproportionately aimed at women and girls, and they are illegal”.

On Monday, British regulator Ofcom, which has oversight of online platforms, said it had also started a formal inquiry to consider whether X had violated an online safety law that aims to stop the spread in Britain of “priority” illegal content, including nonconsensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material.

Ofcom said in a statement that “platforms must protect people in the UK from content that’s illegal in the UK, and we won’t hesitate to investigate where we suspect companies are failing in their duties, especially where there’s a risk of harm to children.”

The regulator did not set a firm timeline for the investigation but said it was a matter of the “highest priority.” X could face fines of up to 18 million pounds ($24 million), or 10% of its worldwide revenue, whichever is higher.

If X is found to have broken the law and refuses to comply with Ofcom’s requests for action, the regulator has the power, if necessary, to seek a court order that would prevent payment providers and advertisers from working with X. It could also, in cases in which a court finds “significant harm” to individuals, require internet service providers to block access to the platform altogether inside the country.

Ofcom said it had been in communication with xAI, the parent company that controls X and Grok, to understand the steps it is taking to protect users in Britain.

Musk and X could not be reached for comment.

Last week, X reacted to the growing outrage over the images by announcing that only paying customers would be able to use Grok’s image-making tool. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said the change was “insulting” to victims of misogyny and sexual violence. It “simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,” he added.

Musk has claimed the controversy over the images is a pretext for governments to attack “free speech”.  He recently posted an AI-generated image of Starmer in a bikini.

“Why is the UK government so fascist?” Musk wrote on X on Saturday. He has also boasted that the controversy has led to more downloads of the app.

Musk’s social media platform has seen its business deteriorate in Britain. Last week, the company disclosed that annual revenue in 2024 fell 58% to 28.9 million pounds, while gross profit slumped to 1.1 million pounds, from 13.5 million pounds.

The company attributed the slide to a drop in advertising sales because businesses have “concerns about brand safety, reputation and/or content moderation”.

Over the weekend, Indonesia and Malaysia became the first two countries to ban Grok, blocking access to the application in their countries. Authorities in the European Union, France, Brazil and elsewhere have also said they are reviewing X over the spread of sexual images of people without their consent.

The growing uproar risks creating wider geopolitical tension. President Donald Trump and other administration officials have defended Musk against other attempts in Europe to regulate X, calling it an attack on free speech.

-New York Times

Editor_1
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