The United Kingdom plans to bring into force a law that criminalizes the creation of non-consensual sexualized images, including through Grok, the chatbot within Elon Musk’s X application, following the app’s deepfake scandal of the last few weeks.
“This means individuals are committing a criminal offence if they create—or seek to create—such content—including on X—and anyone who does this should expect to face the full extent of the law,” Technology Secretary Liz Kendal announced in the House of Commons Monday, adding that the government would work to also make it illegal for companies to supply the tools designed to create these nonconsensual images.
The move came just hours after the Office of Communications (Ofcom)—the country’s independent regulator for the communications industry—announced that it will be investigating X and the thousands of pornographic images generated by Grok that flooded the app, including sexualized images of what appear to be minors. The investigation will aim to determine whether these deepfakes violate the country’s Online Safety Act (OSA).
Read more: Grok’s deepfake crisis, explained
Kendal said in a statement Friday that if Ofcom desires to use its power to prevent X from being accessed in the U.K., “they will have our full support.”
