The European Union has officially opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, following a global outcry over the dissemination of illegal content.
The probe focuses on whether the platform failed to mitigate risks associated with its AI chatbot, Grok, which has been accused of generating and spreading manipulated, sexualized images of women and minors.
Regulatory Alarm Over AI Misuse
The European Commission announced on Monday that it would examine whether X fulfilled its obligations to protect consumers under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This move follows reports of “appalling” AI-generated deepfakes—specifically non-consensual sexual images of undressed women and children—being shared across the platform.
Timeline of Global Restrictions:
- Ofcom (UK): Launched an investigation two weeks ago regarding Grok’s deepfake capabilities.
- Southeast Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia temporarily blocked the chatbot earlier this month.
- Restoration: Access was only restored in the Philippines and Malaysia after xAI (the developer of Grok) implemented stricter safety barriers.
“Non-consensual sexual deepfakes are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation,” stated EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen, emphasizing that European rights cannot be treated as “collateral damage.”
X’s Defense and Technical Adjustments
In response to the mounting pressure, X pointed to a mid-January update where xAI restricted image-editing features. The company stated it has blocked users in specific jurisdictions from generating revealing images of people. However, X has not disclosed which countries are included in these restrictions.
EU officials noted that while these changes are a “welcome” step, they do not resolve the systemic risks. The Commission specifically alleges that X failed to conduct a proper risk assessment before rolling out Grok’s features to European users.
Diplomatic and Financial Stakes
The investigation arrives at a sensitive moment for EU-US relations. A crackdown on American Big Tech companies has previously drawn criticism and threats of retaliatory tariffs from the Trump administration.
The consequences of non-compliance are severe:
- Financial Penalties: Under the DSA, X could face fines of up to 6% of its global annual turnover.
- Interim Measures: Regulators warned that X could face immediate, temporary restrictions if “meaningful adjustments” are not made.
- Past Offenses: X was already hit with a €150 million fine in December 2025 for separate transparency breaches.
Expanding the Scope
Regulators have also extended an existing investigation from late 2023. They are now looking into X’s “recommender systems”—the algorithms that suggest content to users—to see if the integration of Grok has increased the systemic risk of harmful content going viral.
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