xAI and Grok logos are seen in this illustration created on February 16, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Feb 3 (Reuters) – Governments and regulators are cracking down on sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok on X, with investigations, bans and demands for safeguards, in a growing global push to curb illegal material.

Here are some reactions from governments and regulators since the start of January as well as xAI’s response:

The European Commission on January 26 opened an investigation into whether Grok disseminates illegal content such as manipulated sexualised images in the EU. The probe will examine whether X assesses and mitigates risks as required under the bloc’s digital rules.

Britain’s media regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation to determine whether sexually intimate deepfakes produced by Grok violated its duty to protect people in the UK from potentially illegal content, under the Online Safety Act.

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Britain’s privacy watchdog – launched its own investigation on February 3, saying the reported creation of the sexualised images, including of children, raised serious concerns under UK data protection law.

Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit raided X’s office in Paris on February 3 and ordered Musk to face questions in April regarding a widening investigation over alleged algorithmic bias, complicity in the detention and diffusion of images of child‑pornographic nature and the violation of a person’s image rights with sexually explicit deepfakes.

Germany’s media minister said EU rules provided tools to tackle illegal content and alleged the problem risked turning into the “industrialisation of sexual harassment.”

Italy’s data protection authority warned that using AI tools to create “undressed” deepfake imagery of real people without consent could amount to serious privacy violations or criminal offences.

Swedish political leaders condemned Grok-generated sexualised content after reporting that imagery involving Sweden’s deputy prime minister was produced from a user prompt.

India’s IT ministry sent X a formal notice on January 2 over alleged Grok-enabled creation or sharing of obscene sexualised images, directing that the content be taken down and requiring a report on actions being taken within 72 hours.

Japan also probed X over Grok, stating that the government would consider every option to prevent the generation of inappropriate images.

Indonesia said it had blocked access to Grok, a move meant to protect women and children from AI-generated fake pornographic content, citing the country’s strict anti‑pornography laws.

Malaysia restored access to Grok in January for its users after X implemented additional safety measures.

The Philippines will reinstate access to Grok after its developer pledged to remove image-manipulation tools that had sparked child-safety concerns, the country’s cybercrime investigation unit said in January.

California’s governor and attorney general said on January 14 they were demanding answers from xAI amid the spread of non-consensual sexual images on the platform.

Canada’s privacy watchdog said it was widening an existing investigation into X after reports that Grok was generating non-consensual, sexually explicit deepfakes.

Brazil’s government and federal prosecutors gave xAI 30 days to prevent the chatbot from spreading fake sexualised content.

Australia’s regulator eSafety said in January it was investigating Grok-generated sexualised deepfake images, assessing adult material under its image‑based abuse scheme and noting that child-related examples it had reviewed did not meet the legal threshold for child sexual abuse material under Australian law.

HOW HAS xAI RESPONDED?

xAI said on January 14 it had restricted image editing for Grok AI users and blocked users, based on their location, from generating images of people in revealing clothing in “jurisdictions where it’s illegal.” It did not identify the countries.

It had earlier limited the use of Grok’s image generation and editing features only to paying subscribers.

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