EU probes Elon Musk’s X over sexually explicit deepfakes from Grok AI

BRUSSELS — The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X over concerns that its Grok artificial intelligence tool is being used to generate deepfake sexual imagery of real people.

If X is found to be in violation of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the company could face massive fines of up to 6% of its global annual revenue. The move follows a similar warning issued by the British media regulator Ofcom in January.

Regina Doherty, a member of the European Parliament, said the commission will evaluate whether "manipulated pornographic images" have been displayed to users within the EU. European officials are also expanding an existing probe into X’s recommendation algorithms that has been ongoing since December 2023.

In its defense, X’s safety account previously stated the platform has implemented blocks to prevent Grok from "undressing" people in photos within "jurisdictions where such content is illegal."

The investigation comes as the scale of the AI tool’s output reaches record levels. On Sunday, the official Grok account on X claimed the tool had generated more than 5.5 billion images in just 30 days.

The European Union’s investigation into Grok represents far more than a probe into a single AI feature; it is a definitive stress test for the enforcement power of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the bloc’s landmark regulatory framework. This case highlights a direct confrontation between Brussels’ efforts to curb systemic online harms and the defiant posture of Elon Musk, whose dismissal of regulatory oversight as a pretext for “censorship” risks hardening the stance of EU officials.

With potential penalties reaching 6% of global annual turnover, the EU is utilizing a heavy-duty deterrent designed to force compliance from systemic platforms. The decision to expand the inquiry into X’s recommendation algorithms suggests that regulators are not merely concerned with deepfake generation, but with the core architectural mechanisms that amplify harmful content.

The outcome of this investigation will set a critical global precedent for the governance of generative AI. It will determine whether technology firms can continue to deploy high-stakes tools under a regime of "permissionless innovation," or if they must operate under a new era of legal liability and strict regulatory guardrails within the world’s most influential digital markets.

This incident highlights the growing dangers facing social media users, particularly within the Vietnamese-American community. The ease of generating explicit deepfake imagery creates new avenues for cyberbullying, extortion, and the spread of misinformation. In our tight-knit circles—whether within the nail salon industry or the local networks of Little Saigon—reputational harm can be devastating, potentially impacting personal lives and even sensitive legal standings like F2B or H-1B visa statuses. It is essential to be increasingly vigilant about the photos and personal information we share online.