New polling suggests 58% of Britons think X should be banned in the UK if the social network fails to crack down on nonconsensual images generated by its AI tool Grok. The poll, conducted by More in Common, also found 60% believe UK ministers should leave the platform, and 79% fear AI misuse will become a bigger problem.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the House of Commons on Wednesday that images produced by Grok were “disgusting” and “shameful”. He said he had been informed that X was “acting to ensure full compliance with UK law”, adding: “If so, that is welcome. But we are not going to back down. They must act. We will take the necessary measures.”
Ofcom, the media regulator, launched an investigation into X on Monday after a surge of sexualised images appeared on the platform. Government officials have been in talks with X, but ministers are monitoring the impact of steps taken by the site. There is frustration that guardrails used by other AI providers to prevent such images are not employed by Grok.
In recent days, X is understood to have restricted the @grok account so it no longer generates images of real people in revealing clothing. The sharing of nonconsensual intimate images is illegal under the Online Safety Act. Last week, the Internet Watch Foundation reported users on a dark web forum boasting of using Grok to create sexualised images of girls aged 11 to 13.
Elon Musk denied awareness of any such underage images, stating Grok obeys the laws of each country and fixes bugs immediately when adversarial hacking occurs. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall criticised xAI for limiting Grok’s image generation to paying subscribers, calling it “a further insult to victims, effectively monetising this horrific crime”.
Kendall said a wider ban on AI nudification tools would apply to apps with the sole purpose of generating fake nude images without permission. However, committee chair Chi Onwurah criticised the government’s slowness, noting reports of Grok deepfakes appeared in August 2025, and questioned whether the ban would cover multipurpose tools like Grok.
