❓WHAT HAPPENED: The British government has announced it will back the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which regulates broadcasting, telecommunications, the mail, and the Internet in Britain, if it decides to block Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) platform over alleged non-compliance with British laws, following complaints about its Grok AI being used to create images of people in bikinis.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Elon Musk, British Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, Ofcom, and X users.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Ofcom set deadlines for compliance earlier this week.
💬KEY QUOTE: “I would remind xAI 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,” said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.
🎯IMPACT: Ofcom is conducting an expedited assessment, with politicians pressing for immediate action against Grok’s alleged misuse.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government will support the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which regulates broadcasting, telecommunications, the mail, and the Internet in Britain, taking action against Elon Musk’s platform X if it fails to comply with the censorious Online Safety Act. This comes amid complaints that X users have been using Grok, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool owned by Musk’s xAI, to alter images of people to put them in bikinis, which the platform’s enemies are characterizing as creating non-consensual sexualized deepfakes.
Liz Kendall, the British Technology Secretary, emphasized that Ofcom has the authority to block services that fail to comply with British law. “If Ofcom decide to use those powers they will have our full support,” she said. Ofcom has already set a deadline for X to respond to its demands and is now conducting an expedited assessment.
Critics argue that X has failed to act swiftly enough against images generated by Grok, some of which are humorous—with Prime Minister Starmer among those who have been depicted in a bikini—while others are legally questionable, involving girls below the age of majority.
Starmer’s spokesman declared, “It is abundantly clear that X needs to act and needs to act now.” Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament (MPs) have called for Ofcom to restrict access to X while its investigation is underway, potentially cutting off millions of users, including paid content creators who earn a living from the platform.
Grok’s defenders have noted that it is merely a tool, and that holding X and xAI legally accountable for offensive images resulting from user prompts is akin to holding Adobe legally responsible for users using Photoshop to create offensive images. They further note that other AIs can also be used to generate images of people in bikinis, suggesting that the fact that X has been singled out is evidence that the government has a political axe to grind against Musk.
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