UK launches probe into X over Grok sexualised imagery

Britain's media regulator launched an investigation into Elon Musk's X over concerns its Grok AI chatbot was creating sexually intimate deepfake images in violation of its duty to protect people in the UK from illegal content. The British government said a new law making it an offence to create sexual deepfakes would come into force this week to tackle the images, which it called "weapons of abuse". Technology Minister Liz Kendall told lawmakers on Monday that the government also plans legislation that will tackle the problem at the source by making it illegal for companies to supply tools designed to create deepfakes.Nudification apps will also be criminalised as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, and it will become illegal for companies to supply tools to create non-consensual internet images, which Ms Kendall said would target the problem “at its source.”

Sir Keir Starmer meanwhile issued a warning to Elon Musk’s X, saying the social media site could lose the “right to self regulate”. The Prime Minister told Labour MPs: “If X cannot control Grok, we will – and we’ll do it fast because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate.” Keir has faced calls to have the Government stop using X altogether and Downing Street said on Monday it was keeping its presence on the platform “under review”.

The independent media watchdog said it had urgently made contact with X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, last week. The Elon Musk-owned company was set a “firm deadline” of January 9 to explain what steps it has taken to comply with its duties to protect its users in the UK. The company responded by the deadline, and we carried out an expedited assessment of available evidence as a matter of urgency, Ofcom said in a statement

The Ofcom probe piles additional pressure on the social media platform of the world's richest man, which is already facing a growing public outcry as well as criminal and regulatory probes around the world, from France to India.Musk has accused the UK Government of being “fascist” and trying to curb free speech in response to its threats.