LONDON – The European Union has launched a privacy investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, following reports that its Grok AI chatbot has been generating deepfake images without consent, according to Ireland’s data privacy regulator on Tuesday.
The Data Protection Commission of Ireland announced that it had formally notified X of the inquiry on Monday. This investigation is being conducted under the stringent data privacy laws of the 27-member EU, adding to the increasing scrutiny X is facing globally due to Grok’s controversial activities.
Last month, Grok faced widespread condemnation after it began fulfilling user requests to create AI-generated images that inappropriately altered individuals’ appearances, such as placing women in transparent bikinis or revealing attire. Some reports indicated that these images might have depicted minors. In response, the company implemented certain limitations on Grok, but European authorities remain unsatisfied with these measures.
The Irish regulatory body explained that the focus of their investigation is on the production and dissemination of “potentially harmful” nonconsensual intimate or sexualized images on X, particularly those involving personal data of Europeans, including minors.
As of now, X has not issued any comments regarding the investigation.
Grok, developed by Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI, is accessible on X, where its generated content is publicly viewable, allowing users to see each other’s requests and responses.
The watchdog said the investigation will seek to determine whether X complied with the EU data privacy rules known as GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation. Under the rules, the Irish regulator takes the lead on enforcing the bloc’s privacy rules because X’s European headquarters is based in Dublin. Violations can result in hefty fines.
The regulator “has been engaging” with X since media reports started circulating weeks earlier about “the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualized images of real people, including children,” Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a press statement.
Earlier this month, French prosecutors raided X’s Paris offices and summoned billionaire owner Elon Musk for questioning. Meanwhile, the data privacy and media regulators in Britain, which has left the EU, have opened their own investigations into X.
The platform is already facing a separate EU investigation from Brussels over whether it has been complying with the bloc’s digital rulebook for protecting social media users that requires platforms to curb the spread of illegal content such as child sexual abuse material.
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