Grok inquiry into deepfake sexualised images has 'full Government support'
The Government has said media regulator Ofcom has its ‘full support to take any action it sees fit’ as it launched an investigation into sexualised images of women and children being made on X, formerly Twitter.
Ofcom yesterday said it was launching a full investigation into whether the site had broken UK laws. Should it see fit, it could apply to the courts for a full ban - something which could further jeopardise relations with Washington.
Calls from campaigners for the Government to stop using Elon Musk’s social media platform for its own official channels have so far been resisted by Downing Street.
Last week, X said only paying users would now be able to use the image generation tool, something the Government described as ‘insulting’.
It comes as the leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch said her party would follow the Australian model and ban children under 16 from social media, if her party won the next election.
She said she was concerned by the sexualised images, but that banning X altogether was the ‘wrong answer’.
When asked yesterday whether the Prime Minister could back a ban on X, his official spokesman said Ofcom’s announcement: “is welcome news, it has our full support to take any action it sees fit”.
“We have been clear, the content created by Grok in certain circumstances is utterly vile. It’s not just an affront to decent society, it is unlawful and it devastates lives and we won’t hesitate to go further to protect children online and strengthen the law as needed.
“We have already legislated to criminalise the creation of non-consensual intimate images, and this will be brought into force as soon as possible.
“We’ve also designated intimate image abuse a priority offence in the online safety act, and banning nudification apps through the Crime and Policing Bill.”
In response, Mr Musk accused the UK Government of being “fascist” and trying to curb free speech.
Technology Minister Liz Kendall also welcomed the announcement: “I said I wanted to see action from Ofcom in days not weeks and I welcome it launching a formal investigation today.
“Ofcom must complete this investigation swiftly because the public, and most importantly the victims, will not accept this taking months and months.
“The content created and shared using Grok in recent days has been disturbing.”
“Ofcom has a backstop power to apply to the courts to block services in the UK where they refuse to uphold our law.
“If Ofcom deem that to be necessary they will have our full support.
When asked about the allegation from Elon Musk that the Government wants to block free speech, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “I don’t accept that at all, our position on free speech is crystal clear.
“You had the Prime Minister discuss this directly with the President in the Oval Office in February.
“In relation to free speech in the UK, I’m very proud of our history. We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the UK, and it will last for a very, very long time.”
“We’re fully committed to the right to free speech, and upholding that right.”
“The company needs to tackle this issue, where unlawful content, including sexualised images of children, have been created using Grok.
“And indeed in the last week, the Internet Watch Foundation found category C (the least severe category of illegal images) child sexual abuse material on a dark web forum, the user who posted this content claimed to use Grok to produce these images and then used a separate AI tool to modify them further and create category A material.”
But Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also expressed fears the Government will end up “suppressing free speech”.
Speaking at a press conference in central London, Mr Farage said: “Nothing from the current set of regulators in Government would surprise me when it comes to the suppression of free speech.
“Do we like and welcome the particular feature on Grok that has made the news over the weekend? No.
“But let’s talk to Grok.
“They have already made one or two steps in our direction.
“My fear is we will end up suppressing Grok and further suppressing free speech and we do not want to do that.”
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