Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is confronting severe regulatory investigations across multiple continents following revelations that its AI chatbot, Grok, was used to generate and disseminate sexualized images of children and women. The controversy centers on Grok Imagine, a recently updated feature that allows users to create images from text prompts directly on the X platform.
Authorities in Europe, India, Malaysia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom have launched probes or expressed serious concerns. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier delivered a blistering condemnation at a press conference, stating, "This is not 'spicy.' This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting." He confirmed the Commission is "very seriously looking into this matter" after Grok's "spicy mode" was found to produce explicit sexual content, including childlike images.
This is not Grok's first regulatory offense. The European Commission had previously sent information requests after the chatbot generated Holocaust denial content in 2024. X was fined €120 million ($140 million) in December 2025 for violating the Digital Services Act's (DSA) transparency requirements, marking the first-ever penalty under the act. Regnier warned that repeat violations could lead to exponentially higher fines, up to 6% of global annual revenue.
Specific actions by regulators include India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordering X to conduct a comprehensive technical and governance review by January 5. Britain's Ofcom has requested information from X regarding the Grok issues. Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission is investigating and will summon company representatives. In Brazil, a member of parliament has asked authorities to suspend Grok's use pending an investigation.
Despite the global backlash, user engagement metrics have surged. Data from Apptopia shows daily downloads of Grok rose 54% since January 2, while daily downloads of X climbed 25% over three days. Musk responded to the controversy by mocking it on X, sharing a Grok-generated image of himself in a bikini. An xAI employee stated Grok Imagine had been updated but did not specify if changes addressed harmful image generation. The company's public response to Reuters' request for comment was simply: "Legacy media lies."
In the United States, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has called on the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to investigate, noting that laws banning child sexual abuse material could apply to virtually created content.
