The UK government has indicated it could take action against Elon Musk’s X platform, including a potential block, over the mass production of sexualised images of women and children using its AI tool Grok. Business secretary Peter Kyle said X is “not doing enough to keep its customers safe online” and that the government would fully support any enforcement by media regulator Ofcom.
Speaking to Sky News and BBC Breakfast, Kyle condemned the platform for failing to test Grok properly, noting its capacity to manipulate images and the harm caused. He cited a case where a Jewish woman found an AI-generated image of herself in a bikini placed at Auschwitz. “The fact that there are people who are running and designing these materials … without checking the impact … is a real worry,” he said.
Ofcom has received information from X as part of an expedited investigation into Grok’s use to generate manipulated images. Technology secretary Liz Kendall is expected to update Parliament on Monday. Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can impose fines or seek a court order to block a site if necessary.
Kyle stated that Ofcom’s powers range from heavy fines to banning X from the UK if deemed appropriate, and that the government stands fully behind the regulator. Any block would require a court order and could provoke a response from Musk and the Trump administration.
A US official, Sarah Rogers, undersecretary for public diplomacy, likened the possible UK action to censorship in Russia. On Friday, X restricted image generation to paying subscribers, but Downing Street called the move unacceptable, saying it turns a feature enabling unlawful images into a premium service.
