UK urges Musk’s X to address intimate Grok ‘deepfakes’
The UK has called on Elon Musk’s
The comments followed reports, including from Reuters, that user-promoted Grok was creating a flood of non-consensual images of women and minors in tight clothing.
Technology Minister Liz Kendall said on Tuesday the content was “absolutely appalling” and called on the social media platform to take swift action.
“No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online,” Kendall said.
“We cannot and will not allow these degrading and degrading images, which disproportionately target women and girls, to be disseminated.
“X needs to deal with this matter urgently.”
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Kendall’s statement.
X’s Security account said in a statement on Sunday that it had removed all illegal content from the platform and permanently suspended the relevant accounts.
“Anyone who uses or encourages Grok to create illegal content will be subject to the same consequences as if they had uploaded illegal content,” he said. Asked about the issue recently, X told Reuters: “Old Media is a Lie.”
Creating or sharing non-consensual intimate images or child sexual exploitation material (including AI-generated sexual images) is illegal in Britain. Tech platforms also need to prevent UK users from encountering illegal content and remove it when they become aware of it.
Musk shrugged off concerns online by posting laughing emojis in response to public figures’ bikini photos.
The European Commission on Monday said it was aware that X was offering a “spicy mode” and condemned the footage as illegal.
Also on Monday, Britain’s media regulator Ofcom said it was making “urgent contact” with X and its artificial intelligence arm xAI to understand what steps they were taking to comply with legal obligations to protect users in the UK.
French authorities reported X to prosecutors and regulators, calling the content “clearly illegal”, while Indian authorities also demanded an explanation.
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