British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set up for showdown with the United States as he threatens to ban X, formerly known as Twitter, over a flood of AI-generated sexualized images of women and children, prompting warnings of Britain being hit with anti-censorship sanctions from Washington.
The ability of X-bundled AI chat bot Grok to generate images on command, which has been used as a “nudify” tool in recent weeks to manipulate images of public figures, politicians, private individuals and even children, has triggered anger in the British government. Action up to and including billion-dollar fines and even outright banning X, with separate moves to ban “nudification” apps that could see those with access to Grok potentially facing jail time even without using it to generate illegal content.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said of X.com, reports The Daily Telegraph, that X will either bend to the will of the British government or face consequences. He said Grok’s abilities are “disgraceful”, “not tolerable”, and “disgusting” and the British government will force action.
He said of the UK media regulator Ofcom, recently given wide-ranging new powers by the controversial Online Safety Act: “X has got to get a grip of this and Ofcom has our full support to take action in relation to this. This is wrong. It’s unlawful. We’re not going to tolerate it. I’ve asked for all options to be on the table.”
The Telegraph notes Downing Street sources added particular context to these “all options to be on the table” remarks, noting the Online Safety Act gives the government the power to impose multi-billion fines on tech companies that don’t censor to the standards of the British government, and even to block access to websites altogether. Ofcom, for their part, said they’d “urgently” contacted X “to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK”.
Tory peer Lord Hannan responded with incredulity to the authoritarian move. He wrote on Friday: “I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I think the government may be moving towards a ban on X. Not the Chinese or Iranian government; the British government.”
While the issue of “deepfakes”, the common name for AI-generated sexual images of real people used for revenge porn or to embarrass the target, is also seen as a problem to be overcome in Washington, the UK government’s instinct to reach straight for threats of cutting Britain off from the global internet has immediately triggered concerns in the U.S., where the President Donald Trump government is already issuing stern warnings about major backsliding on freedom of speech in Europe and Britain. Indeed, the Trump White House has already sanctioned two UK passport holders accused of trying to weaponise UK and European laws to enforce censorship on American social media.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Sarah B Rogers, who led the charge on that first round of sanctions last month spoke out against the UK’s threats, calling for a nuanced rather than sledgehammer approach to artificial intelligence. She is reported to have said: “Deepfakes are a troubling, frontier issue that call for tailored, thoughtful responses. Erecting a “Great Wall” to ban X, or lobotomizing AI, is neither tailored nor thoughtful. We stand ready to work with the UK on better ideas.”
Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) warned if the UK attempted to blackmail Elon Musk’s X, then sanctions would rapidly expand. She wrote in a statement overnight in response to Starmer’s comments that: “If Starmer is successful in banning X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole.
“This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024–2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions and consequences tied to free speech concerns against Brazilian officials over concerns related to censorship and free-speech violations.
Calling on Starmer to reconsider his course of action, Luna added: “Let’s be clear: this is not about technical compliance. This is a political war against Elon Musk and free speech—nothing more.”
On Friday, millions of X users worldwide were apparently locked out of using the Grok image generation feature, with it being restricted to X’s paying customers. British media such as The Guardian notes the development comes amid the UK government’s comments, but X boss Elon Musk wrote hours before that the sheer number of Grok users was causing it to slow down, suggesting improving service for paid customers may have been the purpose.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister responded to this change on Friday, calling it “insulting”. As noted by The Guardian, it was said at the Downing Street press briefing this morning that:
[Today’s move] simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service. It’s not a solution. In fact, it’s insulting to victims of misogyny and sexual violence. What it does prove is the X can move swiftly when it wants to do so.
You heard the prime minister yesterday. He was abundantly clear that X needs to act now.
If another media company had billboards in town centres showing unlawful images, it would act immediately to take them down or face public backlash… The point here is we must stop these abhorrent images being made on Grok, and we will prioritise action that puts an end to this. As the prime minister said yesterday, it’s disgraceful, it’s disgusting and it’s not be be tolerated.
While Mr Musk hasn’t publicly responded specifically to the UK government’s remarks, he did repost a message to his account on Friday morning stating: “URGENT ALERT: Reports indicate the UK authorities are exploring a potential block… As the leading news application in the UK, X serves as a vital daily resource for millions seeking accurate, unfiltered information.”
While previous attempts to ban slices of the internet worldwide have generally been defeated by widespread VPN access, as has already been the case in the UK government’s prudish earlier bids to shut parts of the internet, parallel censorship developments in the UK may make even having access to an uncensored Grok terminal a criminal offence. On Wednesday, UK government minister Jess Phillips linked Grok to the creation of child sexual abuse material and said just having access to the software — not even using it — could be enough to see the inside of a prison cell in future.
She said, reported The Times:
The use of AI tools like Grok to create degrading, non-consensual images is an absolute disgrace. Lives can be devastated by tools like this being used to create intimate images to abuse, torment and harass people and the crime disproportionately targets women and girls.
The UK will become the first country in the world to make it illegal for sick predators to possess, create or distribute AI tools which are designed to generate child sexual abuse content, with offenders facing up to five years behind bars.
We will also ban those abhorrent tools which are designed to create non-consensual intimate images.
The report notes that X has already said it removes illegal content, including “child sex abuse material” and that those prompting Grok to create illegal content are legally liable to prosecution in their home nations the same way as if they’d acquired child pornography by other means.