X could face ban in UK over deepfakes, minister says

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall says she would back regulator Ofcom if it blocks UK access to Elon Musk’s social media site X for failing to comply with online safety laws.

Ofcom says it is urgently deciding what to do about X’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok, which digitally undressed people without their consent when tagged beneath images posted on the platform.

X has now limited the use of this image function to those who pay a monthly fee.

But Downing Street said the change was “insulting” to victims of sexual violence, while a domestic abuse charity called it “monetising abuse”.

Kendall said: “Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent.

She added: “I, and more importantly the public, would expect to see Ofcom update on next steps in days not weeks.”

She said the Online Safety Act “includes the power to block services from being accessed in the UK, if they refuse to comply with UK law” and “if Ofcom decide to use those powers they will have our full support”.

The BBC has approached X for comment.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We urgently made contact [with X] on Monday and set a firm deadline of today [Friday] to explain themselves, to which we have received a response.”

“We’re now undertaking an expedited assessment as a matter of urgency and will provide further updates shortly.”

Ofcom’s powers under the Online Safety Act include being able to seek a court order to prevent third parties from helping X raise money or be accessed in the UK – should the firm refuse to comply.

These so-called business disruption measures remain largely untested.

The use of Grok to generate non-consensual sexualised images has been condemned by politicians on all sides, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer calling it “disgraceful” and “disgusting”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said it was “horrible in every way” and that X “needs to go further” than the changes it had made to Grok earlier on Friday.

But he said the idea of banning X in the UK was “frankly appalling” and an attack on free speech.

The Liberal Democrats have called for access to X to be temporarily restricted in the UK while the social media site was investigated.

Grok is a free tool which users can tag directly in posts or replies under other users’ posts to ask it for a particular response.

The tool can still edit images on X if accessed through other areas of the platform, such as via its in-built “edit image” function, or on its separate app and website.

Many requests have been made asking it to edit images of women to show them in bikinis or little clothing – something those subject to such requests have told the BBC left them feeling “humiliated” and “dehumanised”.

However as of Friday morning, Grok has told users asking it to alter images uploaded to X that “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers”, adding users “can subscribe to unlock these features”.

Some posts on the platform seen by BBC News suggest only those with a blue tick “verified” mark – exclusive to X’s paid subscriber tier – were able to successfully request image edits to Grok.

Dr Daisy Dixon, a lecturer in philosophy at Cardiff University and female X user who said she had seen an increase in people using Grok to undress her, welcomed the change but said it felt “like a sticking plaster”.

“Grok needs to be totally redesigned and have built-in ethical guardrails to prevent this from ever happening again,” she told the BBC.

“Elon Musk also needs to acknowledge this for what it is – yet another instance of gender-based violation.”

Hannah Swirsky, head of policy at the Internet Watch Foundation, said it “does not undo the harm which has been done”.

“We do not believe it is good enough to simply limit access to a tool which should never have had the capacity to create the kind of imagery we have seen in recent days,” she said.

The charity previously said its analysts had discovered “criminal imagery” of girls aged between 11 and 13 which “appeared to have been created” using Grok.

Labour MPs are increasingly unhappy with the party’s use of X to get its political messages out.

Leaked messages from the Parliamentary Labour Party’s WhatsApp group, used to post announcements for backbench Labour MPs to share on social media, show at least 13 Labour MPs have called on the government to stop using the platform.

The messages, first reported by Politics Home and seen by BBC News, show Labour MPs calling on the government to “take a stand” and “put our messages out in other places”.

One MP said: “As some of us have requested since Musk went all fascist, rather than X, our government should start using another platform”.

Another said: “Any images of children (and women) in government comms on X put those children in harms way.”

Earlier on Friday, Downing Street suggested that the government would continue posting on X.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters changes to the way Grok complied with user requests to edit images on the platform showed X “can move swiftly when it wants to”.

They said it was “abundantly clear that X needs to act and needs to act now”.

“It is time for X to grip this issue, if another media company had billboards in town centres showing unlawful images, it would act immediately to take them down or face public backlash,” they added.