The European Union on Monday launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X over its AI chatbot Grok, following allegations that the tool generated sexualised deepfake images of women and minors, intensifying an international backlash against the technology.
The outcry emerged after it was revealed that users could manipulate images of women and children using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes”, raising serious concerns about consent and child protection.
“In Europe, we will not tolerate unthinkable behaviour such as the digital undressing of women and children,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “We will not hand over consent and child protection to tech companies to violate and monetise. The harm caused by illegal images is very real,” she added in a statement.
EU tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen said the probe would assess whether X had complied with its legal obligations under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which governs the responsibilities of major online platforms.
“The rights of women and children in the European Union cannot be treated as collateral damage of digital services,” Virkkunen said.
Brussels said the investigation would focus on whether X had adequately mitigated risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, including manipulated sexually explicit images that may amount to child sexual abuse material.
Widened investigation
As part of the move, the EU said it was expanding an existing investigation into X over the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been under scrutiny since December 2023 under the DSA.
According to research published last week by the nonprofit Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised images of women and children within days of its image-generation feature being launched.
X was fined €120 million ($140 million) in December for breaching DSA transparency obligations, a decision that drew sharp criticism from the administration of US President Donald Trump. The violations included the misleading design of its “blue checkmark” verification system and its failure to provide public data access to independent researchers.
Despite mounting pressure from Washington, EU officials have reiterated that the bloc will continue to enforce its digital rules. The dispute over technology regulation comes as Brussels and the Trump administration remain at odds on several fronts, including the war in Ukraine, trade relations and Greenland.