The European Union launched a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X on Monday, after his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok began posting nonconsensual sexualized deepfake photos on the platform.
European regulators also expanded their own, ongoing inquiry into X’s recommendation systems after the site announced that it would utilize Grok’s AI engine to select which posts users view.
The investigation by Brussels comes after Grok triggered a global outrage by allowing users to undress people using its AI image generation and editing skills, putting females in transparent bikinis or revealing apparel. According to the researchers, some of the photos appeared to depict children. Some countries prohibited the service or issued warnings.
The EU’s executive said it was investigating whether X had done enough, as required by the bloc’s digital legislation, to control the dangers of distributing unlawful information such as “manipulated sexually explicit images.”
This includes materials that “may amount to child sexual abuse material,” according to the European Commission. These threats have now “materialized,” according to the EU, putting the bloc’s inhabitants in “serious harm.”
Regulators will look into whether Grok is meeting its requirements under the Digital Services Act, the EU’s comprehensive legal framework for protecting internet users from dangerous content and products.
In response to a request for comment, an X spokesperson referred The Associated Press to an earlier statement in which the company stated that it is “committed to making X a safe platform for everyone” and has a “zero tolerance” policy for child sexual exploitation, nonconsensual nudity, and inappropriate sexual content.
The X statement from January 14 also stated that it will no longer allow users to represent persons in “bikinis, underwear, or other revealing attire,” but only in areas where it is illegal.
“Non-consensual sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation,” the commission’s executive vice-president, Henna Virkkunen, said in a statement.
Virkkunen, who is in charge of tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, stated, “With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA or whether it treated rights of European citizens – including those of women and children – as collateral damage of its service.”
Grok’s image tool was introduced last summer by Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI. However, the issue didn’t seem to get worse until late last month, when Grok appeared to approve a lot of user requests for editing other people’s photos. The issue was made worse by the fact that Grok’s photos are publicly accessible and thus easily shared, as well as the fact that Musk presents his chatbot as a more daring substitute with fewer security measures than competitors.
Grok’s website and standalone app are not included by the EU probe; only Grok’s service on X is. This is due to the fact that the DSA only covers the largest online sites.
The bloc has no timeline to settle the issue, which might result in either X agreeing to alter its conduct or paying a large fine.
As part of the previous continuing DSA probe, Brussels fined X 120 million euros (then $140 million) in December for flaws including blue checkmarks that violated the regulations on “deceptive design practices” that put consumers at danger of fraud and manipulation.
Additionally, the bloc has been investigating X due to claims that Grok produced antisemitic content and has requested additional information from the website.
