BRUSSELS, Jan 8 (Reuters) The European Commission has instructed Elon Musk’s platform X to retain all documents related to its AI chatbot Grok for a longer period. This move comes as the Commission works to ensure compliance with EU rules following backlash over Grok’s generation of sexualised images.
Sweden also condemned the AI-generated images, calling them unacceptable, after the country’s deputy prime minister was targeted by a Grok user’s request this week. As a result, the Commission has extended an order requiring X to retain documents about algorithms and illegal content dissemination, pushing the deadline to the end of 2026, according to spokesperson Thomas Regnier.
This is instructing the platform to retain its internal documents and not discard them, as we have concerns about its compliance. We must be able to access these documents if we request them,” Regnier explained.
Swedish Prime Minister Calls Images Unacceptable
Regnier clarified that this move does not imply the Commission has launched a new formal investigation under the EU’s Digital Services Act, which mandates that online platforms take stronger action against illegal and harmful content. X has not responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
X’s Safety account stated on Sunday that it removes all illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, from its platform and permanently suspends accounts involved in such activities. The company added that anyone using Grok to generate illegal content would face the same consequences as if they uploaded it themselves.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned the images, calling them “a form of sexualized violence,” and added, “They are distasteful, unacceptable, and offensive.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated his call for X to take immediate action after a report from the Internet Watch Foundation revealed that Grok was being used to generate sexualised images of children.
That’s disgusting and cannot be tolerated,” Starmer told the Greatest Hits Radio network. The Internet Watch Foundation, a British non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating online child sexual abuse, reported that it found criminal imagery of children aged 11 to 13, which appeared to have been created using Grok.
Tools like Grok are now at risk of mainstreaming sexual AI imagery of children,” said Ngaire Alexander, head of the reporting hotline at the Internet Watch Foundation. “This is unacceptable.