- The EU’s privacy watchdog has opened a new ‘large-scale’ X inquiry
- It’s probing whether ‘potentially harmful’ Grok images broke privacy laws
- This follows separate investigations from the EU and UK over X deepfakes
Elon Musk’s X platform (previously known as Twitter) and its Grok AI bot are facing fresh scrutiny over non-consensual and sexualized deepfake content, with Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announcing an inquiry.
As per MarketWatch, the watchdog is investigating whether X has complied with the strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules in the EU, which the Irish regulator is in charge of enforcing on behalf of the 27-nation bloc.
In recent weeks, there has been a storm of criticism leveled at X in response to Grok being used to create and post millions of sexualized and revealing images – often based on real photos (some of whom appear to be minors), and used without consent.
The DPC says it “has been engaging” with X about the “potential harmful” images since they began circulating at a large scale, although X has made no official comment. The social media platform has previously insisted that necessary safeguards have been put in place, but regulators aren’t convinced.
Investigations and raids
This new inquiry adds to a separate EU investigation that’s looking at the same problems, but under laws that require platforms to stop the spread of illegal material – which in this case may include child sexual abuse material. The UK, no longer part of the EU, has also launched its own inquiry.
There were also raids earlier this month on X offices in Paris by French and EU law enforcement agencies, as part of ongoing investigations that also cover the AI-generated imagery. As the Financial Times reports, X denied any wrongdoing at the time.
At the moment it’s not clear how long the new inquiry will take, or what the result of it might be, but substantial fines are certainly on the table – if X is found to have been lacking in terms of the data privacy protections it put in place around these images.
Grok is powered by xAI, another Elon Musk company, which announced a merger with SpaceX just a few days ago. The AI bot and its capabilities are available to all users, with higher usage limits for those signed up to premium plans.
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