LONDON/PARIS – The European Commission on Monday branded images of undressed women and children proliferating on Elon Musk’s X platform as “unlawful and appalling,” amplifying a wave of global outrage over the site’s AI chatbot Grok churning out nonconsensual explicit content.
The rebuke follows Reuters and other reports exposing Grok’s “spicy mode,” which users exploit to produce hyper-realistic depictions of females and minors in revealing or nude attire: a feature X once touted playfully. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier dismissed the label outright. “This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This has no place in Europe,” he told reporters, confirming the body’s close monitoring.
Across the Channel, Britain’s Ofcom regulator fired off demands to X and xAI. It seeks details on how Grok generates such imagery (including sexualized child visuals) and whether it breaches user protection laws. “We have made urgent contact to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties,” an Ofcom spokesperson said, citing “serious concerns.
“X offered no immediate response to the EU or UK statements; its prior reply to Reuters was a curt “Legacy Media Lies.” Musk himself has brushed off backlash online, reacting to altered images of public figures in bikinis with laughing emojis. UK law criminalizes creating or sharing non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material, even AI-generated. Platforms must proactively block illegal content for British users and remove it upon awareness.
The coordinated push echoes actions elsewhere: French ministers reported X to prosecutors last Friday over “manifestly illegal” sexual and sexist material, while Indian authorities have pressed for answers on obscene posts. As regulators worldwide close in, X faces mounting scrutiny over Grok’s unchecked capabilities amid broader debates on AI ethics and platform accountability.