The UK government has urged X to take immediate action after its in‑built chatbot Grok was used to generate non‑consensual sexualised images of women and girls, including “undressed” depictions and sexualised images of minors.

Technology secretary Liz Kendall called the situation “absolutely appalling” and pressed the platform to act swiftly. “No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online,” she said. “We cannot and will not allow the proliferation of these demeaning and degrading images, which are disproportionately aimed at women and girls. X needs to deal with this urgently.”

The UK media regulator Ofcom said it has made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they are taking to comply with legal duties to protect users in Britain, and will assess the need for a formal investigation based on their response. Under the Online Safety Act, sharing intimate imagery without consent, including AI‑generated sexual content, is illegal; Ofcom can fine platforms up to £18 million or 10 per cent of qualifying global revenues, whichever is higher.

An X Safety account post stated: “We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary. Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

xAI acknowledged lapses in its safeguards and said fixes are being prioritised. From the @Grok account: “There are isolated cases where users prompted for and received AI images depicting minors in minimal clothing. xAI has safeguards, but improvements are ongoing to block such requests entirely.” The company added: “As noted, we’ve identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them – CSAM is illegal and prohibited.”

Campaigners and experts have urged X to disable Grok’s image‑editing features until robust safeguards are in place, the Guardian reported. The BBC highlighted accounts from women who discovered sexualised images of themselves created via the tool and who described the experience as dehumanising.

Pressure is mounting beyond the UK. France has reported content to prosecutors as “manifestly illegal” and the European Commission has warned platforms that unlawful content must be prevented under the Digital Services Act. Thomas Regnier, spokesman for tech sovereignty at the European Commission, told BBC Newshour: “We don’t want this in the European Union… it’s appalling, it’s disgusting. The Wild West is over in Europe.”

Authorities in Malaysia and India have also launched investigations into the matter.

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