The UK government has signalled it could support blocking Elon Musk's X platform if it fails to address the mass production of sexualised AI images of women and children. Business Secretary Peter Kyle said X 'is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online' and that the government would back any action by media regulator Ofcom, including a potential ban.
Ofcom has launched a fast-tracked investigation into X's AI tool, Grok, which has been used to generate manipulated images of people, often in minimal clothing or sexualised poses. The regulator requested information from X, which was provided, and is conducting what Kyle described as an 'expedited inquiry'. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall is due to give a statement to the Commons on Monday, having said she expects action from Ofcom within days.
Kyle told Sky News: 'Let me be really clear about X: X is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online.' He later said on BBC One's Breakfast programme that it was 'appalling' X had not tested Grok properly, given its capacity to manipulate images and its potential impact on women. He recounted meeting a Jewish woman whose image of herself in a bikini outside Auschwitz had been generated by AI and posted online.
Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can impose multimillion-pound fines for non-compliance, with the ultimate sanction being a court order requiring internet providers to block a site or app entirely. Kyle said Ofcom has 'a range of powers that goes from heavy, heavy fines all the way through to banning X from our country, if deemed appropriate'.
Any move to block X would likely provoke a strong response from Musk and the Trump administration. On Sunday, Sarah Rogers, US undersecretary for public diplomacy, likened the possible UK action to censorship in Vladimir Putin's Russia. X recently announced that image generation and editing would be limited to paying subscribers, but Downing Street described this as turning 'an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service'.
