European regulators on Monday opened a new investigation into X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after concerns that its AI chatbot, Grok, has been used to generate sexualized images, including deepfakes.
The inquiry, launched by the European Commission, will examine whether X, owned by Elon Musk, has violated the European Union’s Digital Services Act by failing to properly assess and limit harms linked to its AI tools and content-recommendation systems.
“No company operating in the European Union is above the law,” said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy. “We are determined to ensure that platforms take responsibility for the risks they create.”
The move follows growing scrutiny of Grok after users shared explicit and manipulated images generated with the chatbot, prompting questions about whether safeguards were adequate or enforced at all.
Under the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms are required to take active steps to prevent illegal and harmful content, disclose how their algorithms shape what users see, and respond quickly when problems emerge. Regulators say AI tools like Grok raise new challenges because of how easily they can be misused at scale.
Virkkunen said the case reflects broader concerns about accountability as tech companies roll out powerful new tools. “The Digital Services Act exists to protect users and society,” she said. “We will not hesitate to enforce it when risks are ignored.”
X has said it has introduced changes to limit the generation of explicit content by Grok, but EU officials indicated those claims will be independently reviewed as part of the investigation.
If regulators ultimately find that X broke EU rules, the company could face hefty fines and be ordered to change how its platform operates in Europe. The case is likely to be closely watched as a test of how aggressively the EU is willing to police artificial intelligence on major social media platforms.
