{"id":485597,"date":"2026-02-17T11:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T11:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485597\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T11:05:17","slug":"eu-privacy-watchdog-opens-probe-into-elon-musks-x-over-sexualised-ai-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485597\/","title":{"rendered":"EU privacy watchdog opens probe into Elon Musk\u2019s X over sexualised AI images"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s privacy watchdog has opened a \u201clarge-scale\u201d inquiry into Elon Musk\u2019s X over AI-generated non-consensual sexual imagery, in the latest sign of how regulators are scrutinising the social media site\u2019s Grok chatbot. <\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation, said late on Monday that it had opened a probe into the creation and publication of \u201cpotentially harmful\u201d sexualised images by Grok that contained or involved the processing of EU user data.<\/p>\n

The Grok chatbot is integrated into X\u2019s social media feeds, and developed by Musk\u2019s AI start-up xAI, which last year acquired X. Earlier this month, xAI merged<\/a> with Musk\u2019s rocket maker SpaceX to create a $1.5tn behemoth.<\/p>\n

The investigation marks the latest in a number of inquiries by global authorities targeting X after thousands of sexualised deepfakes of women were generated using Grok<\/a> in early January, prompting a widespread backlash from users, safety experts and politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DPC has been engaging with [X] since media reports first emerged a number of weeks ago concerning the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualised images of real people, including children,\u201d Graham Doyle, DPC deputy commissioner, said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

He added that the commission \u201chas commenced a large-scale inquiry which will examine [X\u2019s] compliance with some of their fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"xAI<\/a><\/p>\n

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Musk<\/a> has taken a hands-off approach to moderating the Grok chatbot, citing free speech. Last summer, xAI made changes to the chatbot after it praised Hitler and made antisemitic posts on X.<\/p>\n

His X offices in Paris were raided<\/a> by French and European investigators at the beginning of February as part of a wide-ranging investigation into X\u2019s algorithms as well as the spread of AI-generated sexual abuse material. French prosecutors have summoned Musk and Linda Yaccarino, X\u2019s former chief executive, for \u201cvoluntary interviews\u201d in Paris in April.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Information Commissioner\u2019s Office also last week announced it was launching a new investigation into X and xAI, saying it had \u201cserious concerns\u201d about Grok\u2019s use of personal data and \u201cits potential to produce harmful sexualised image and video content\u201d.<\/p>\n

The EU has already opened a formal investigation into xAI for Grok\u2019s spread of sexualised images of women and children under the bloc\u2019s Digital Services Act, which requires big tech platforms to mitigate the spread of illegal and harmful content.<\/p>\n

The European probe announced on Monday, however, will assess whether X breached the EU\u2019s flagship GDPR rules, which mandate that companies ensure personal user data is processed only for specific lawful purposes, consider privacy during product development and draw up risk reviews in advance of the launch of high-risk features, for example.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recommended<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Following pressure from governments around the world, including threats of fines and bans in the EU, UK and France, X last month implemented \u201ctechnological measures\u201d to limit Grok from generating certain explicit images.\u00a0However, the company has insisted that it removes Child Sexual Abuse Material and non-consensual nudity material.<\/p>\n

In response to the French raids, X said in a post that the allegations were \u201cbaseless\u201d and it \u201ccategorically denies any wrongdoing\u201d. It dubbed the raid an \u201cabusive act of law enforcement theatre designed to achieve illegitimate political objectives\u201d, adding that the investigation \u201cdistorts French law, circumvents due process, and endangers free speech\u201d.<\/p>\n

The latest investigation comes during a turbulent period for X, with dozens of staff departing the company last week, including two co-founders. Musk said in an all-hands meeting on Wednesday that he was restructuring the group after the merger with SpaceX.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-485597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}