Elon Musk claims outcry over Grok deepfakes used as an ‘excuse for censorship’
Elon Musk has claimed critics of X “want any excuse for censorship” as the social media platform faces threats of being shut down over deepfake pornography and child abuse images.
The billionaire appeared defiant on Friday despite backlash over reports that Grok, X’s AI chatbot, was creating sexualized images of people, including children, at the request of users.
women told Independent They were left feeling “violated and humiliated” after their “dehumanised” image was created by Grok users without their consent.
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was joined by other world leaders in confronting Musk over the sexual content in X and calling for immediate action.
Governments and regulators from Europe to Asia condemned the reports, some investigations were opened, and Indonesia is now the first country to block Grok.
But pointing to claims that other artificial intelligence programs are creating non-sexual images of women in bikinis, Musk posted on his site Friday night: “They want every excuse for censorship.”
Criticisms of X have focused on Grok’s production of child abuse images and manipulation of photos of real women and girls to remove their clothing.
Britain’s technology minister Liz Kendall said she would support regulator Ofcom if it decides to effectively block X if it does not comply with British law. “Sexual manipulation of women and children is despicable and disgusting,” he said.
Ofcom said it carried out an “expedited assessment” after the social media platform responded to an urgent communication on Monday.
However, Musk responded by sharing a post from US legislator Anna Paulina Luna threatening to impose sanctions on both Sir Keir and the UK if X was blocked in the country.
On Friday, X appeared to have changed Grok’s settings; The chatbot told users that only paid subscribers could ask it to change images.
However, reports suggested that this only applied to those who made requests in response to other posts, and other ways to edit or create images remained open, including a separate Grok website.
Downing Street said the changes were “not a solution” but proved that X could act quickly when it wanted to.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office said: “This is not a solution, in fact it is an insult to victims of misogyny and sexual violence.”
“What this proves is that X can move quickly when he wants.
“You listened to the prime minister yesterday. He was very clear that X needs to act and he needs to act now, it’s time for X to address this issue.”
Ms Kendall said it was “absolutely unacceptable for Grok to allow this if you are prepared to pay the price”, adding that an update on Ofcom’s next steps was expected “within days, not weeks”.
Ofcom has the power to fine businesses up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue and take criminal action under the Online Safety Act.
It can also order payment providers, advertisers, and internet service providers to stop working with a site, effectively banning it, but this requires approval from the courts.
Ms Kendall also highlighted plans to ban nudity practices under the Crime and Policing Bill passed by Parliament, and said powers to criminalize the creation of intimate images without consent would come into force in the coming weeks.
Indonesia temporarily blocked Grok on Saturday due to the risk of artificial intelligence-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to do so.
“The government views non-consensual sexual deepfake practices as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and security of citizens in the digital space,” Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said in a statement. he said. The Ministry also summoned official X to discuss the issue.
The European Commission on Thursday extended a retention order sent to X last year to keep all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026 due to concerns.
German Media Minister Wolfram Weimer called on the European Commission on Tuesday to take legal steps, saying EU rules provide tools to combat illegal content and claiming the problem risked turning into “the industrialization of sexual harassment”.
In France, government ministers said on January 2 that they had referred sexually explicit content created by Grok circulating on X to prosecutors, and had also warned French media regulator Arcom to check the platform’s compliance with the European Union Digital Services Act.
Italy’s data protection authority warned on Thursday that using artificial intelligence tools to create “naked” deepfake images of real people without their consent could lead to serious privacy breaches and, in some cases, criminal offences.
Swedish political leaders on Thursday condemned sexualized “undressing” content created by Grok after it was reported that images featuring Sweden’s deputy prime minister were generated from a user prompt.
Beyond Europe, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese condemned as “disgusting” reports that Grok was being used to exploit or sexualize people without their consent. He said the eSafety Commissioner, his country’s independent online safety regulator, was investigating the matter.
India’s Ministry of IT sent an official notice to
Malaysia’s communications regulator, MCMC, said on January 3 that it would summon
Musk has previously said that anyone who uses Grok on X to create illegal content will face the same consequences as if they had uploaded illegal content.
X reposted it and added: “We are taking action against illegal content on
