Elon Musk has launched a fierce attack on the UK government, accusing it of seeking to suppress free speech. This comes after ministers threatened his social media platform, X, with substantial fines and a potential nationwide block. The drastic action follows revelations that X's artificial intelligence tool, Grok, was used to generate sexually explicit images of women and children without their consent.
Government Threatens "Backstop" Blocking Powers
The UK's technology secretary, Liz Kendall, stated on Friday that the government is seriously considering using powers under the Online Safety Act to bar access to X in Britain. She emphasised that the regulator, Ofcom, which is seeking urgent answers from the platform, is expected to act within "days not weeks".
"X needs to get a grip and get this material down," Kendall declared. She confirmed that if Ofcom decides to utilise its backstop powers to block the service for UK users, it would have the government's full support.
Scale and Nature of the Abuse Revealed
The scandal involves thousands of women who have faced abuse through the AI tool. Initially, Grok was used to digitally "strip" photographs of fully clothed individuals, rendering them in micro bikinis. The manipulation rapidly escalated to more extreme and violent imagery.
Pictures of teenage girls and children were altered to show them in swimwear, with experts warning some outputs could be classified as child sexual abuse material. Disturbingly, some users began demanding images showing bruising, blood, or depictions of women being tied up, gagged, or shot.
In response to the government's threats, Musk claimed on Friday night that Grok became the most downloaded app on the UK App Store. He posted: "They just want to suppress free speech."
International Condemnation and Platform Response
The UK's concerns found a powerful international echo. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the technology's misuse, stating that "global citizens deserve better". He labelled the use of AI to sexualise people without consent as "abhorrent" and criticised a lack of social responsibility from social media platforms.
Facing intense pressure, X partially restricted access to Grok's image generation on Friday. The function was removed from the tool's public account for free users, limiting it to paying subscribers. The platform also appeared to have blocked the creation of bikini images. However, reports indicate the Grok app can still produce sexually explicit material from women's photographs.
The controversy has sparked a political debate. While some right-wing figures, like former PM Liz Truss, framed it as a free speech issue, Labour MP Jess Asato highlighted that similar "nudification" tools remain available on other platforms like YouTube. She called for urgent legislation to ban such apps outright.
As the standoff between one of the world's most prominent tech billionaires and the UK government intensifies, the core conflict between platform accountability, technological abuse, and free speech principles reaches a critical new stage.
