X is refusing to prevent users from creating images of women and girls via its AI application, Grok
The Government has urged online watchdog Ofcom to use its powers to block access to X, formerly Twitter, in a dramatic escalation in tensions with the tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall issued a statement telling the regulator that it had the “full support” of ministers to use its powers to block UK users from gaining access to the social media site.
It comes amid growing concerns over the platform’s refusal to prevent users from creating intimate images of women and children, including near-naked pictures, via its AI, Grok.
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Kendall said: “Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent. It is an insult and totally unacceptable for Grok to still allow this if you’re willing to pay for it. I expect Ofcom to use the full legal powers Parliament has given them.
“I, and more importantly, the public – would expect to see Ofcom update on next steps in days, not weeks.
“I would remind xAI [the Elon Musk company behind Grok and X] that the Online Safety Act includes the power to block services from being accessed in the UK if they refuse to comply with UK law. If Ofcom decide to use those powers, they will have our full support.”
She added that the Government was in the process of banning nudification applications in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is making its way through Parliament.
“We are in the coming weeks bringing into force powers to criminalise the creation of intimate images without consent,” she said.
“I expect all platforms to abide by Ofcom’s new VAWG (violence against women and girls) guidance, and if they do not, I am prepared to go further. We are as determined to ensure women and girls are safe online as we are to ensure they are safe in the real world. No excuses.”
The threat to block X in the UK is likely to drastically ramp up tensions between the Government and Musk, who has repeatedly attacked the UK and the Labour administration over what he claims is its approach to free speech.
It also risks undermining relations with the White House, with the likes of Donald Trump and, in particular, Vice President JD Vance, frequently voicing their concerns over what they claim is an attack on freedom of speech in the UK via online safety laws.
A US congresswoman threatened this week to bring legislation to sanction the Prime Minister and “Britain as a whole” if the UK bans the platform.
Elon Musk has clashed with the Labour Government (Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
Republican representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Trump loyalist from Florida, said Starmer should “reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences”.
Ofcom has a range of penalties available to respond to breaches of the Online Safety Act, including fines and even criminal prosecution of social media executives.
The regulator also has what is viewed as the “nuclear option” of compelling payment providers or advertisers to stop servicing the site, effectively shutting it down for UK users.
Downing Street has branded X’s response to criticism over Grok’s image editing tool as “insulting” to victims of misogyny and sexual violence.
Rather than removing the function to create sexualised images of people, including children, X has chosen to limit access to the tool to paying subscribers only.
Speaking on Friday morning, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “That move… simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service.
“It’s not a solution. In fact, it’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence. What it does prove is that X can move swiftly when it wants to do so.”
How can Ofcom force platforms to abide by the law?
The online regulator has been given a range of powers to ensure platforms and websites comply with the Online Safety Act.
Where the regulator identifies compliance failures, it can require platforms to take specific steps to make sure they obey the law. If they fail to do so, Ofcom can impose fines of up to £18m or 10 per cent of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. This could run into tens of millions, if not more, for major sites such as X.
In the most serious cases, Ofcom can apply for a court order to carry out “business disruption measures”, such as requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring internet service providers to block access to a site in the UK.
This is viewed as the “nuclear option” to be used only as a last resort, but it is understood the watchdog can move straight to blocking access if there are serious harms to children.
There is growing concern within government over the response from Ofcom, which has said that it made “urgent contact” with X, but is yet to set out how it will tackle the site’s refusal to remove the image-making tool.
The Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has written to Kendall and Ofcom seeking clarity over what action will be taken and calling for the Online Safety Act to be amended to explicitly cover generative AI.
Dame Chi Onwurah, the committee chair, said: “Reports that xAI’s Grok has been used to create non-consensual sexualised deepfakes on X are extremely alarming.
“My committee warned last year that the Online Safety Act was riddled with gaps – including its failure to explicitly regulate generative AI.
“Recent reports about these deepfakes show, in stark terms, how UK citizens have been left exposed to online harms while social media companies operate with apparent impunity.”
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Labour MPs have been calling on the Government to quit the platform and use different sites, such as Facebook, to carry out its online communications.
Musk has previously insisted that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content”.
X has said it takes action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.