Media regulator and watchdog in the UK, Ofcom, has opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X social media platform over the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images of women and children to remove their clothes and create inappropriately oversexualized AI images.
Elon Musk’s social media platform X is now under formal investigation from Ofcom, a media regulator and watchdog in the UK. The investigation specifically regards the site’s Grok AI tool which is now being used to manipulate preexisting images of women and children to remove their clothes and create inappropriately oversexualized AI images.
Grok is integrated within X, and Ofcom decided to take action after a multitude of complaints and reports from the public.
The regulator is investigating X under 2023’s Online Safety Act (OSA). The OSA has a range of possible punishments for breaches that include full bans on apps and websites for the more serious abuses.
According to reports, Ofcom stated they would be pursuing their investigation as a “matter of the highest priority.”
“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,” they said.
“Reports of Grok being used to create and share illegal nonconsensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material on X have been deeply concerning.”
“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.”
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, expressed that the regulator also has the government’s full backing.
“The content which has circulated on X is vile. It’s not just an affront to decent society, it is illegal.”
“If they do not, Ofcom will have the backing of this government to use the full powers which parliament has given them … this includes the power to issue fines of up to 10% of a company’s worldwide qualifying revenue and, in the most serious cases, Ofcom can apply for a court order to stop UK users accessing the site,” Kendall said.
She also mentioned that ministers would bring into force a new law that makes it illegal to create nonconsensual intimate images and share them.
“X does not have to wait for the Ofcom investigation to conclude – they can choose to act sooner to ensure this abhorrent and illegal material cannot be shared on their platform.”
Sharing intimate image abuse online is illegal under the OSA, which also requires all pornography to be age restricted. Companies are required to have systems implemented that specifically prevent child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from appearing online and remove it quickly if it is posted.
Ofcom stated that they “urgently” made contact with X over the concerns last week. The regulator opened a formal investigation after their “expedited assessment as a matter of urgency.”
The Guardian reported the following ways in which Ofcom is focusing on how X potentially breached the act:
- “Failing to assess the risk of people seeing illegal content on the platform.
- Not taking appropriate steps to prevent users from viewing illegal content such as intimate image abuse and CSAM.
- Not taking down illegal material quickly.
- Not protecting users from breaches of privacy law.
- Failing to assess the risk X may pose to children.
- Not using effective age checking for pornography.”
An update to Grok has allowed users to prompt it to alter clothed images of people to make them appear in bikinis, swimsuits, and sexually suggestive poses. This update has had users mainly targeting women and children. Depending on how X responds, Ofcom could effectively block the app/website in the UK.
The UK government stated that they would fully support Ofcom if they decided that X should be banned to emphasize how seriously they are taking this matter. The regulator will now be collecting evidence on whether a breach has occurred and if it decides one has, they will announce so in a provisional decision before making their final ruling.
Jess Asato, a Labor Parliament Member who’s campaigned against AI “nudification,” has stated that this specific type of online abuse has been, and still is, happening to her on X. She stated that these degrading images of herself being made with the Grok app and other AI applications began after she began speaking out against Elon Musk’s platform.
“It’s still happening to me and being posted on X because I speak up about it. Thankfully it’s just bikinis, no one has properly ‘nudified’ me yet. Just this morning someone has made me a tradwife with a massive pregnant tummy.”
“It’s like they’re saying, this is where you should be, this is your role, you should be a baby birthing machine. This has disturbed me, weirdly more than the bikini pictures.”
“With 19 million people on X in this country, and more than a quarter of them saying that they use it as their primary source of news, our views – and often simply the facts – need to be heard wherever possible,” Kendall said.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
