Ofcom Launches Formal Investigation Into X Over Alleged Grok Sexualised Imagery
Elon Musk has said the UK wants to suppress free speech as X faces a possible ban (Alamy)
4 min read
Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act after the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said the platform's AI chatbot produced non-consensual sexualised images of adults and children.
The independent online safety regulator, Ofcom, announced on Monday that it had opened a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act, to determine whether it has complied with legal duties to protect the public from illegal content.
The regulator carried out an initial assessment last week following reports that the Grok AI chatbot account on X was being used to create and share sexualised images of adults and children, with the IWF saying it had found "criminal imagery" of girls aged between 11 and 13, which appeared to be created by Grok.
X responded to Ofcom's initial assessment last week, and a formal investigation will now assess whether the platform takes appropriate steps to prevent people in the UK from seeing ‘priority’ illegal content and take it down when identified.
Ofcom will also assess whether the platform poses a risk to children in the UK and check its age assurance processes to prevent children from seeing pornography on the site.
Once the assessment is complete, Ofcom has a range of enforcement powers which it could use against X if it is found to have broken the law, including fines, the removal of the service in the UK, and criminal prosecutions.
In a House of Commons statement later in the day, Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall announced that the new criminal offence of creating an intimate image of an adult without consent will be brought into force this week under the Data (Use and Access) Act. This will also be made a 'priority offence' under the Online Safety Act.
"Let me be crystal clear, under the Online Safety Act, sharing intimate images without someone's consent or threatening to share them, including images of people in their underwear, is a criminal offence for individuals and for platforms," Kendall said.
"This means individuals are committing a criminal offence if they create or seek to create such content, including on X. And anyone who does this should expect to face the full extent of the law.
"But the responsibilities do not just lie with individuals for their own behaviour. The platforms that host such material must be held accountable, including X."
Kendall also confirmed that the government's expected ban on nudification apps will be added to the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.
As revealed by PoliticsHome last year, the Crime and Policing Bill will also include a new offence to prosecute tech firms which enable the creation of AI-generated child sexual abuse.
There has been growing pressure on the UK government to take firm action against Grok, such as blocking the chatbot from operating in the UK. Kendall said she would back any action Ofcom decided to take against the platform. Malaysia and Indonesia announced over the weekend that access to Elon Musk's AI chatbot has been blocked in both countries.
In messages seen by PoliticsHome, Labour MPs have also been urging the government to leave X, arguing that it should "show direction to others in the UK". X, formerly known as Twitter, has said it takes action against child sexual abuse content, “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.
However, government figures are adamant that they must remain on the platform in order to reach the public.
Addressing concerns among MPs, Kendall said: "I really do understand why many colleagues have come to this conclusion when X seems so unwilling to clean up its act, the government will, of course, keep our participation on X under review.
"Our job is to protect women and girls from illegal and harmful content wherever it is found. And I think it's also worth bearing in mind that with 19m people on X in this country, and more than a quarter of them saying that they use it as their primary source of news, that our views and often simply the facts need to be heard wherever possible."
The regulator is also currently undertaking a review into one major social media platform over whether it is doing enough to identify and remove illegal terror and hate content – which will then be extended to other platforms.
As revealed by PoliticsHome, more than 30 cross-party MPs and peers wrote to Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes in November asking the regulator to urgently investigate whether Elon Musk’s X platform, formerly known as Twitter, is failing to comply with its legal duties under the Online Safety Act.
