![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/skynews-nigel-farage-elon-musk_7135168.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOfcom has welcomed restrictions on Grok, X’s AI chatbot, to prevent the generation of sexualised images.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir had made similar comments the previous day. The regulator said its investigation is “ongoing” to “get answers into what went wrong and what’s being done to fix it”.<\/p>\n
It came as the prime minister said in a social media post that X must act to comply with UK laws “immediately”.<\/p>\n
The company has announced the Grok AI tool on X will no longer be able to undress pictures of real people.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer said: “Free speech is not the freedom to violate consent. Young women’s images are not public property, and their safety is not up for debate.<\/p>\n
“I welcome that X is now acting to ensure full compliance with UK law – it must happen immediately.<\/p>\n
“If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepared to do that.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Share<\/p>\n
\n Starmer targets Reform for ‘defending Elon Musk’\n <\/p>\n
There has been mounting condemnation in the UK and US of the chatbot’s image editing capabilities, with UK government ministers threatening action against the platform.<\/p>\n
A days-long outcry over reports Grok was allowing users to manipulate images of children to sexualise them led to Ofcom launching an investigation into X on Monday.<\/p>\n
While Ofcom welcomed reports of the new restrictions, it said its investigation would continue as it seeks “answers into what went wrong and what’s being done to fix it”.<\/p>\n
What X has said<\/p>\n
“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis,” X said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
“This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers.<\/p>\n
“We now geoblock the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it’s illegal,” it added.<\/p>\n
Geoblocking prevents access to a feature for people based in particular countries, but the change still leaves open the possibility that it could be circumvented with a VPN.<\/p>\n
The restriction will apply to all users, including paid subscribers, while image editing and creation will be limited to premium users.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/skynews-elon-musk_7135992.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n The company has announced the Grok AI tool on X will no longer be able to undress pictures of real people. Pic: AP<\/p>\n
Shortly after posting on social media, Sir Keir told broadcasters during a visit to Scotland: “Those images, sexualised images, were disgusting, absolutely disgusting, and we made it clear that we wouldn’t tolerate them and that we wouldn’t back down.<\/p>\n
“So I am glad that action has now been taken. But we’re not going to let this go. We will continue because this is a values argument.”<\/p>\n
The prime minister had made similar comments the previous day.<\/p>\n
Read more from Sky News: Mr Musk had previously claimed Grok would refuse to produce illegal content and appeared to blame “adversarial hacking” for the chatbot’s generation of sexualised images.<\/p>\n Image: Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir had suggested action by the company may be imminent.<\/p>\n The controversy had seen X, which was bought by Mr Musk<\/a> in 2022 when it was called Twitter, threatened with a potential fine or even ban – something the UK can now do under new online safety laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Image: Mr Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, who has previously called for Sir Keir to be voted out of office, has claimed – along with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage – that a ban would be an attack on free speech.<\/p>\n X had already announced in an earlier response to the political pressure that image creation and editing would be restricted to paid subscribers.<\/p>\n Following X’s announcement that it would prevent the Grok account from being used to create intimate images of people, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall also welcomed the move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ofcom has welcomed restrictions on Grok, X’s AI chatbot, to prevent the generation of sexualised images. Sir Keir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-371506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
X to block Grok AI from undressing images of real people<\/a>
Economy records 0.3% growth in November<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/skynews-keir-starmer-pmqs_7135048.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday said the government would not ‘back down’ if X did not act. Pic: PA<\/p>\n![\"Liz](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/skynews-cabinet-liz-kendall_7133986.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Liz Kendall said she ‘will expect the facts to be fully and robustly established by Ofcom’s ongoing investigation’. Pic: PA<\/p>\n