US official warns UK against ‘Russia-style’ ban on X over AI-generated images
Donald Trump’s free speech czar has likened the Government’s threats against social media platform X to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Sarah Rogers, undersecretary of public diplomacy at the US State Department, made the comparison as part of a series of messages criticizing Britain.
Technology Minister Liz Kendall has said the government would support regulator Ofcom if it decides to ban access to X from the UK over Grok, the artificial intelligence used to create deepfake images.
Grok creator xAI and tech mogul Elon Musk, boss of social media platform
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Ms Rogers said Britain was “considering a Russia-style X-ban to protect them from bikini photos”.
However, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy claimed that US vice president JD Vance looked favorably on efforts to combat Grok-produced images.
Mr Lammy, who met Mr Vance in the US on Thursday, told The Guardian he had raised the issue of Grok and raised “the terrible, terrible situation where this new technology allows deepfakes and manipulation of images of women and children, which is absolutely disgusting”.
“He agreed with me that this was completely unacceptable,” Mr Lammy said.
“I think he understood the seriousness of how images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he understood how despicable and unacceptable it was, and I sympathized with him.”
Mr Musk claimed the Government “wants any excuse for censorship” and “just wants to suppress free speech”.
Responding to a chart showing arrest figures for online posts, with the UK at the top, Mr Musk said: “Why is the UK Government so fascist?”
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Kendall said: “We are drawing an unbreakable line in the sand and telling tech companies in no uncertain terms that platforms profiting from abuse will never be tolerated.
“Innovation should serve humanity, not degrade it. If companies choose greed over responsibility, they will face the full force of the law.”
He said the Online Safety Act includes the power for courts to block access to services in the UK if they refuse to comply with UK law.
“These powers are there for a reason. If we reach a point where Ofcom decides to use them, they will have the full support of this Government,” he said.
