Musk says outcry over X’s Grok service is ‘excuse for censorship’ | EUROtoday

Elon Musk has stated critics of his social media website X are on the lookout for “any excuse for censorship”, after its synthetic intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok drew criticism over its use to create sexualised photos of individuals with out their information or consent.

Ofcom says it’s conducting an pressing evaluation of X in response, with the backing of Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

But the chairwomen of Parliament’s expertise and media committees have each stated they’re involved that “gaps” within the Online Safety Act would possibly hinder the media regulator’s potential to take care of the matter.

X has now restricted the usage of AI picture perform to those that pay a month-to-month price, a change dubbed by Downing Street as “insulting” to victims of sexual violence.

The BBC has seen a number of examples of the free AI device undressing girls and placing them in sexual conditions with out their consent.

Kendall stated on Friday that she expects an replace from Ofcom inside days, and that it might have the federal government’s full assist ought to it determine to dam X within the UK.

Musk reposted numerous messages on the positioning in a single day criticising the federal government’s reproval of Grok – together with one which confirmed AI-generated photos of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a bikini.

“They just want to suppress free speech,” Musk wrote.

Ashley St Clair, the mom of one in every of Elon Musk’s youngsters, informed BBC Newshour on Friday that Grok had generated sexualised images of her as a baby.

The conservative influencer stated her picture had been “stripped” to seem “basically nude, bent over”, regardless of her telling Grok that she didn’t consent to the sexualised photos.

St Clair, who filed a lawsuit towards Musk in 2025 looking for sole custody of their baby, accused the social media website of “not taking enough action” to sort out unlawful content material, together with baby sexual abuse imagery.

“This could be stopped with a singular message to an engineer,” she stated.

As of Friday morning, Grok was telling customers asking it to change photos uploaded to X that “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers”, including customers “can subscribe to unlock these features”.

An Ofcom spokesperson stated on Friday: “We urgently made contact [with X] on Monday and set a firm deadline of today to explain themselves, to which we have received a response.

“We’re now endeavor an expedited evaluation as a matter of urgency and can present additional updates shortly.”

Ofcom’s powers under the Online Safety Act include being able to seek a court order to prevent third parties from helping X raise money or be accessed in the UK – should the firm refuse to comply.

But Dame Chi Onwurah, chairwoman of the innovation and technology committee, said she was “involved and confused” about how the matter is “really being addressed”, and has written to Ofcom and Kendall for clarification.

Dame Chi said it was “unclear” under the Online Safety Act whether the creation of such images using AI was illegal, as was the responsibility of social media sites for what was shared on their platforms.

“The act ought to actually make one thing so dangerous to so many individuals clearly unlawful, and X’s accountability needs to be clear,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Caroline Dinenage, chairwoman of the culture, media and sport committee, likewise said she had a “actual concern that there’s a hole within the regulation”.

“There are doubts as as to if the Online Safety Act really has the facility to manage performance – meaning generative AI’s potential to nudify somebody’s picture,” she told BBC Breakfast.

The use of Grok to generate non-consensual sexualised images has been condemned by politicians on all sides:

• Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it “disgraceful” and “disgusting”

• Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said it was “horrible in each manner” and that X “must go additional” than the changes it had made to Grok on Friday, but he added that banning the platform would be an attack on free speech

• The Liberal Democrats called for access to X to be temporarily restricted in the UK while the social media site was investigated.

Elsewhere, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he agreed with Starmer that the material was “fully abhorrent”.

“It, as soon as once more, is an instance of social media not displaying social accountability,” Albanese said, adding that Australia’s digital safety commissioner was looking at the situation.

“Australians and certainly, international residents deserve higher.”

Meanwhile, Grok was temporarily suspended in Indonesia on Saturday. The country’s digital minister said “non-consensual sexual deepfakes [were] a critical violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of residents within the digital house”.