EU Opens Probe into Elon Musk’s Grok Over Sexual AI Deepfakes
Brussels: The EU hit Elon Musk’s
Grok faced backlash after it was revealed that users could sexualize images of women and children using simple text commands such as “put her in a bikini” or “take off her clothes.”
“We will not tolerate unthinkable behavior such as the digital undressing of women and children in Europe,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.
“It’s simple; we will not hand over consent and child protection to tech companies to violate and make money. The harm caused by illegal images is very real,” he told AFP. he said.
EU technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen said the investigation “will determine whether X has fulfilled its legal obligations” under the Digital Services Act (DSA), designed to regulate the bloc’s internet giants.
He said the rights of women and children in the EU should not be “collateral damage” of X’s services.
Brussels said it was investigating whether X had appropriately reduced “the risks associated with the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that could amount to child sexual abuse material”.
three million images
Grok created an estimated three million sexualized images of women and children in a matter of days, according to research released Thursday by the Center to Counter Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit watchdog.
As part of the new investigation, the EU said it was expanding an existing investigation into X in a bid to combat the spread of illegal content and manipulation of information.
Musk’s social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been the target of an investigation under the EU’s digital content rules since December 2023.
Brussels’ fine of 120 million euros ($140 million) to X for violating DSA’s transparency obligations in December led to angry reactions from the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Violations included the misleading design of the “blue checkmark” for supposedly verified accounts and the failure to provide access to public data for researchers.
The EU insisted it would enforce its rules despite pressure from Washington.
The dispute over technology regulations comes as the bloc grapples with the Trump administration on multiple fronts, from the Ukraine war to Greenland trade.
