Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into X’s AI tool, Grok, over it being used to create sexualised imagery of women and children.
The media watchdog said it contacted the social media platform on Monday last week and set a firm deadline of last Friday to “explain what steps it has taken to comply with its duties to protect its users in the UK”.
The company replied by the deadline, and Ofcom has since carried out an “expedited assessment of available evidence as a matter of urgency”.
It added the formal investigation will look into whether X, owned by tech titan Elon Musk, has “failed to comply with its legal obligations under the Online Safety Act”.
The regulator said: “There have been deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images of people – which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography – and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material.”
Elon Musk. Pic: AP
The investigation has been welcomed by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, who will give further detail on the government’s response in the Commons later on Monday.
Ms Kendall said: “It is vital that Ofcom complete this investigation swiftly because the public – and most importantly the victims – will not accept any delay.
“The content created and shared using Grok in recent days has been deeply disturbing.”
Downing Street suggested the government was open to ending its use of X if the platform did not act on concerns about its AI chatbot, adding that “all options are on the table”.
Asked whether the government would leave X, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Our focus today and over the last week has been fully on protecting children and ensuring this vile content is taken down immediately.”
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The use of Grok to create sexually explicit content has sparked a wave of concern among ministers who have expressed support for a UK ban if Ofcom decides to block access to the platform.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she believed banning X was the “wrong answer”.
Speaking before the investigation was launched, she said: “I’m not even sure what question it is that they’re answering.
“What we are seeing is a Labour government that did not have a plan, and they’re just throwing out random policies, probably to distract from the fact that they’re putting businesses in a very difficult position.”
Trade Secretary Peter Kyle, who previously served as technology secretary, defended the UK’s Online Safety Act but said there was “more work to do” to protect people online, “particularly in places like X”.
“Let me be really clear about X – X is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online,” he told Sky News.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said US vice president JD Vance was sympathetic to efforts to tackle the Grok-produced images, although Donald Trump’s free speech tsar Sarah Rogers later likened the UK’s threats to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Mr Lammy, who met Mr Vance in the US on Thursday, told The Guardian he raised the issue of Grok “and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent”.
“He agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable,” Mr Lammy said.
In response to ministers’ threats, Mr Musk has accused the UK government of being “fascist” and trying to curb free speech.
Responding to a post on X claiming the UK arrests more people for social media posts than “any other country on earth”, Mr Musk wrote: “Real fascism is arresting thousands of people for social media posts.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he feared the government would end up “suppressing free speech”.
Speaking at a news conference in central London on Monday, he said: “Nothing from the current set of regulators in government would surprise me when it comes to the suppression of free speech.
“Do we like and welcome the particular feature on Grok that has made the news over the weekend? No.
“But let’s talk to Grok. They have already made one or two steps in our direction. My fear is we will end up suppressing Grok and further suppressing free speech and we do not want to do that.”
Sky News has contacted X for comment.
