The United Kingdom’s online watchdog launched a formal investigation Monday into Elon Musk’s X over sexualized pictures created by its Grok chatbot – just two days after the billionaire accused Downing Street of being “fascist.”
The UK’S Office of Communications, or Ofcom, cited “deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people — which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography — and sexualized images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material.”
Musk’s firm has faced renewed heat from regulators since December, when Grok began churning out creepy, scantily-clad photos of women and minors in response to user prompts. X responded by limiting the photo-editing feature to paid subscribers and warning that users who request illegal content “will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”
Ofcom said it already received a response from X on its plan to protect kids and other users from harm ahead of a Friday deadline, and that the office would conduct an “expedited assessment of available evidence.”
A formal investigation was widely expected after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the nonconsensual images produced by Grok as “disgraceful” and “unlawful” last week. Elsewhere, the UK’s Technology Secretary Liz Kendall warned that Ofcom would have her “full support” if it decided to block access to X in response to any wrongdoing.
Musk, meanwhile, has blasted the growing scrutiny from the UK, writing over the weekend on X that the country’s government wanted “any excuse for censorship.”
“Why is the UK government so fascist?” he wrote in another X post on Saturday. He linked to a graph showing that the UK had recorded the most arrests for online comments.
The Post has reached out to X for comment.
The platform is being probed for potential violations of the UK’s Online Safety Act, which requires companies to protect UK-based users from harmful content. Ofcom can impose fines and other penalties if it decides Musk’s company has ignored its obligations.
X is facing a separate inquiry by the European Commission, which has reportedly asked the company to retain documents related to the Grok chatbot while its officials examine whether the company has violated the European Union’s strict online safety rules.
“It is up to this company to address this indeed appalling situation otherwise indeed, we will act,” an EC spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.
A major crackdown by British or European regulators could set up a clash with the Trump administration, which has been sharply critical of overseas efforts to impose penalties on US tech companies.
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