British broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced Monday that it has launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X social media platform over its Grok AI being used to create ‘deepfake’ sexualised images.
Ofcom, which was empowered by the Conservative government-era Online Safety Act to impose fines up to £18 million or 10 per cent of a social media firm’s global revenue or even potentially ban platforms outright, said that in response to “deeply concerning” reports about Grok image generation, it will formally investigate Musk’s X platform to “determine whether it has complied with its duties to protect people in the UK from illegal content.”
A spokesman for the regulator said, “Reports of Grok being used to create and share illegal non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material on X have been deeply concerning.
“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.
“We’ll progress this investigation as a matter of the highest priority, while ensuring we follow due process. As the UK’s independent online safety enforcement agency, it’s important we make sure our investigations are legally robust and fairly decided.”
Controversy erupted earlier this month as users of X discovered that they could use its Grok AI chatbot to take images of fully dressed women and sexualise them, such as by creating a fake bikini picture. Reports emerged that the AI was also being used to create sexualised images of children. In response, the platform restricted Grok’s image-generation capabilities to paid users and prevented it from creating explicit images of children.
UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said that this did not go far enough, however, saying on Friday that it is “an insult and totally unacceptable for Grok to still allow this if you’re willing to pay for it.”
The Labour minister said that the government would give its full support to an Ofcom ban on X if it fails to “comply” with the standards of the Online Safety Act.
X boss Elon Musk, in turn, has accused the British government of acting like a “fascist” state and of merely looking for an “excuse” to ban his platform.
Musk has frequently found himself at odds with the left-wing government in London over free speech issues, frequently criticising the UK for its censorious legal atmosphere, which sees over 12,000 people arrested for comments online per year.
The billionaire entrepreneur has also been a vocal critic of Westminster’s mass migration agenda and used his megaphone to pressure the government into launching a public inquiry into the Pakistani Muslim child rape grooming gang scandal and the politically correct failures of local officials to protect young white working-class girls from sexual predators.
U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers questioned the Labour government’s supposed commitment to safeguarding women and children from X by noting that many Labour officials had downplayed the grooming scandal, posting an article quoting former Peterborough City Council’s Labour leader, who previously described Rotherham grooming gang victims as “poor white trash”.
Meanwhile, U.S. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) said that she will introduce legislation in the House of Representatives to sanction UK Prime Minister Starmer and the United Kingdom if a ban is enacted against X, arguing that the Labour government was motivated by a “political war against Elon Musk and free speech” rather than genuine concern for women and children.
However, UK Deputy PM David Lammy told the Guardian newspaper over the weekend that he had spoken with JD Vance about the image generation issue, and relayed that the tech-savvy Vice President agreed that “it was entirely unacceptable” for Grok to produce sexualised deep fakes.
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