Ofcom has opened a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act 2023 to
decide if it has taken adequate steps to protect people in the UK from illegal
content. This follows widespread concerns over use of its AI Chatbot Grok to create and share
undressed images of people, which may be considered intimate image abuse or
pornography, and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse
material.
Ofcom will investigate to establish whether X has failed to comply with its legal obligations
under the Online Safety Act. This will include assessing the risk of people in the UK seeing
illegal content, if X carried out an update risk assessment before making any significant
changes to its service and if X has taken appropriate steps to prevent people in the UK from
seeing ‘priority’ illegal content, including non-consensual intimate images and child sexual
abuse material (CSAM).
Ofcom will also attempt to establish whether X is taking down illegal content swiftly when
they become aware of it, protecting users from breaches of privacy law, assessing risk their
service poses to children, and using effective age assurance to protect UK children from
seeing pornography.
Under UK law, it is illegal to share non-consensual intimate images or CSAM under section
66D, subsections 5-7 of the Sexual Offences Act and Schedule 6 outlines the child sexual
exploitation and abuse offences that are priority offences under the Act.
If Ofcom’s investigation finds that X has broken the law, it can require the platform to take
specific steps to come into compliance or to address harms caused by the breach. It can
impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue. The Online
Safety Act also includes the powers to block services being accessed in the UK.
The investigation also follows Technology Secretary Liz Kendall’s call for Ofcom to use
the full legal powers it has been given by Parliament to address these concerns. She also said that nudification apps will be banned under the Crime and Policing Bill currently passing through Parliament. The Technology Secretary has also stated the UK Government’s intention to bring into force as a matter of urgency powers to criminalise the creation of intimate images without consent. In addition, she wrote: “This is a fast-moving area, and if there are gaps, I will not hesitate to act to address these, including through legislation. We have already identified that not all chatbots are covered and I have commissioned officials to look at how this gap can be addressed”.
According to Ofcom, X has now introduced restrictions on editing images in the Grok tool, including paid subscribers (who it originally said could carry on using it). However Ofcom has said that its investigation continues.
The state of California has now also launched an investigation into sexualised images of children created by the AI tool.
In a further development, the Times has reported that ChatGPT is also enabling users to “digitally undress” women by transforming photos of them fully clothed into images where they are wearing bikinis.
