Peter Kyle, the business secretary, has said that Elon Musk's X “is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online”, as the UK government outlined possible action against the platform over the mass production of sexualised images of women and children using its AI tool, Grok.
Kyle said the government would fully support any action taken by Ofcom, the media regulator, including the possibility of blocking X in the UK. Ofcom has received information from X as part of an expedited investigation into the use of Grok to generate manipulated images, often depicting individuals in minimal clothing or sexualised poses.
The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, is expected to give a statement to the Commons on Monday afternoon, having said on Friday that she expected action from Ofcom within days. Kyle told the BBC that it was “appalling” that X had not tested Grok properly, noting the impact on women, including a Jewish woman whose image was manipulated to appear in a bikini outside Auschwitz.
Ofcom has powers under the Online Safety Act to issue heavy fines or, as a last resort, seek a court order to require internet providers to block X. The move could provoke a significant response from Musk and the Trump administration, with a US official likening the potential ban to censorship in Russia.
On Friday, X announced that image generation would be limited to paying subscribers, but Downing Street described the move as unacceptable, turning a feature that allows creation of unlawful images into a premium service.
