On 13 January, according to Bloomberg, the British Communications Regulatory Agency, Ofcom, announced yesterday that it had launched an official investigation into X to confirm whether the platform had violated the Online Security Act。
THE AGENCY INDICATED THAT IT WOULD REVIEW WHETHER X HAD NOT EFFECTIVELY PREVENTED USERS FROM USING IT Grok Images of minors and women with sexual implication are generated and a preliminary decision will be issued after the collection of evidence. Ofcom has the power to impose fines or ban illegal services。
It was reported that Grok allowed users to generate text and images directly on X by tagging accounts, but that its security constraints were weak, and that users could manipulate photographs to generate exposed fake images。
This followed the exposure of Grok to a large number of unconsensual images in a short period of time, leading to criticism by multiple Governments around the globe. For its part, the British Government has indicated that it will support Ofcom to impose a ban if necessary。
At the same time, Malaysia and Indonesia announced a temporary blockade of Grok last weekend, becoming the first countries in the world to impose a ban on the instrument。
According to BBC reports, the regulatory bodies of both countries have stated that Grok has been used on many occasions to produce pornographic, in-depth forgeries involving women and children, which pose a threat to human dignity and cyber security. For its part, Indonesia also requested further clarification from X on the mechanism for the use of Grok。
SOME OF THE VICTIMS INDICATED TO THE BBC THAT EVEN IF THE PRIVACY SET WAS ADJUSTED OR REPORTED TO THE PLATFORM, IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO PREVENT THE DISSEMINATION OF FALSE IMAGES, AND THAT THE REMOVAL PROCESS WAS TIME-CONSUMING AND HUMILIATING。
The British Prime Minister's Office criticized XAI's practice of restricting Grock's image generation function to a paid user as “not a solution”, arguing that it simply transforms potential illegal functions into “pay-for-services”。
For its part, the EU has requested X to retain the internal documentation relating to Grok at the end of the year, noting that some of the images on the platform are already in violation of EU law. The French Government has also accused Grok of producing “manifestly illegal” images, which may violate the Digital Services Act (DSA)。
At present, X has not responded further to the latest survey. Musk warned this month that any user who uses Grok to produce illegal content would “take the same consequences as uploading illegal content”。