Elon Musk has claimed critics of X “want any excuse for censorship” as his social media platform faces the threat of being shut down over deepfake pornography and child abuse images.
The billionaire appeared defiant on Friday despite the outcry over reports that X’s AI chatbot Grok was creating sexualised images of people, including children, at users’ request.
Women told The Independent they have been left feeling “violated and humiliated” after “dehumanising” images of them have been created by users of Grok without their consent.
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has been joined by other world leaders in taking on Musk over the sexualised content on X and calling for immediate action to be taken.
Governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the reports, with some opening inquiries into the issue, and Indonesia now becoming the first country to block Grok.
But pointing to claims other AI programmes created non-sexualised images of women in bikinis, Musk posted on his site on Friday night: “They want any excuse for censorship.”
Criticism of X has focused on Grok’s production of images of child abuse and manipulation of photographs of real women and girls to remove their clothes.
The UK’s technology secretary Liz Kendall said she would back regulator Ofcom if it decided to effectively block X if it failed to comply with British laws. “Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent,” she said.
Ofcom said it was undertaking an “expedited assessment” after the social media platform responded to an urgent contact on Monday.
But Musk responded by sharing a post from US legislator Anna Paulina Luna threatening to sanction both Sir Keir and the UK if X was blocked in the country.
On Friday, X appeared to have changed Grok’s settings, with the chatbot telling users that only paid subscribers could ask it to manipulate images.
However, reports suggested this only applied to those making requests in reply to other posts, and other ways of editing or creating images, including on a separate Grok website, remained open.
Downing Street said the changes are “not a solution” but prove that X can move quickly when it wants to.
The prime minister’s spokesman said: “It’s not a solution. In fact, it’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.
