UK Ofcom opens formal investigation into X over Grok deepfakes

The UK’s communications regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act, over reports that its Grok chatbot had been used to generate and share nonconsensual sexualised images, including material Ofcom said may amount to child sexual abuse material. The investigation would examine whether X had met its duties to assess risk, remove illegal content, protect users’ privacy and apply age assurance for children — the core obligations the Act imposes on platforms operating in the UK.

Ofcom’s director of enforcement, Suzanne Cater, called the reports “deeply concerning.” The regulator’s powers under the Act allow fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a company’s qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, and in the most serious cases court orders requiring payment providers, advertisers or internet service providers to withdraw services from a platform or block UK access to it entirely. X said it had already introduced measures to stop the Grok account being used to create intimate images of people, but Ofcom said its investigation would continue regardless.

The action followed a UK government statement of support from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called the images “disgraceful” and “disgusting” and said ministers had given Ofcom “our full support to take action.” It joined a widening set of regulatory responses to the same episode — including a parallel inquiry from the UK’s data protection regulator, the ICO, and enforcement moves in California, France and India — making the Grok deepfake episode one of the first tests of Ofcom’s Online Safety Act powers against a frontier AI feature rather than conventional platform content.