EU launches probe into Elon Musks X over deepfakes of undressed women and children | Latest Tech News
The European Union has formally launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s social media company X over what it described as deepfakes of undressed women and children generated by its intelligence-powered chatbot Grok.
The EU’s govt arm, the European Commission, said Monday it’s wanting into whether or not Musk’s tech company violated the Digital Services Act, which requires platforms such as X to forestall the unfold of manipulated inappropriately specific photos including baby inappropriate abuse materials.
“intimacyual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation,” Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s govt vice-president overseeing tech, said in a assertion.
The European Union has formally launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s social media company X. REUTERS
“With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated rights of European citizens — including those of women and children — as collateral damage of its service.”
The Commission cited what it called the alleged “dissemination of illegal content, negative effects in relation to gender-based violence, and serious negative consequences to physical and mental well-being stemming from deployments of Grok’s functionalities into its platform” in launching the probe.
EU officers warned X may face penalties of up to 6% of global annual income if violations are confirmed.
Musk’s Grok AI bot sparked outrage late last 12 months after the X app was flooded with photos of women whose appearances had been digitally altered to make them seem like they had been in bikinis or lingerie even though the unique pictures confirmed them totally clothed.
The alterations had been made when customers had been ready to ask Grok to undress them without their prior consent.
One analysis performed by researcher Genevieve Oh discovered that Grok generated roughly 7,750 inappropriately suggestive or “nudifying” photos an hour.
European Commission said on Monday that it’s wanting into whether or not Musk’s tech company violated the Digital Services Act, which requires platforms such as X to forestall the unfold of baby inappropriate abuse materials. AFP via Getty Images
Ashley St. Clair, the social media influencer who gave delivery to an toddler boy fathered by Musk, filed a lawsuit against the billionaire’s AI startup, xAI, which created Grok.
She alleged in a court submitting that Musk’s bot generated deepfake photos of her as a nude baby and retaliated against her — by demonetizing her X account — when she demanded that the harassment stop.
Earlier this month, Musk’s company moved to crack down on the deepfakes. Grok told customers in early January that “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers.”
EU officers warned X may face penalties of up to 6% of global annual income if violations are confirmed. AFP via Getty Images
Musk also posted that people utilizing Grok to make unlawful content would “suffer the same consequences” as if they had been importing such content.
Regulators exterior the EU moved rapidly to scrutinize Grok as over the deepfakes backlash unfold.
In the United Kingdom, media watchdog Ofcom launched a formal investigation into the chatbot, citing considerations comparable to those raised in Europe about the creation and unfold of inappropriately specific and doubtlessly unlawful photos.
Authorities in Australia, France and Germany have also opened investigations into Grok over the inappropriate deepfake controversy, forming half of a broader, coordinated worldwide response.
While the precise regulatory our bodies and enforcement mechanisms differ, officers in each nation cited the same core concern: that Grok enabled nonconsensual inappropriateized imagery of real people, including minors, at scale.
Musk’s Grok AI bot sparked outrage late last 12 months after the X app was flooded with photos of women whose appearances had been digitally altered to make them seem like they had been in bikinis or lingerie. REUTERS
In the United States, motion has come at the state stage, with Rob Bonta, California’s attorney normal, asserting an investigation.
In Asia, regulators have gone additional.
Indonesia and Malaysia both imposed non permanent bans on Grok, though Malaysia later lifted its restriction.
A consultant for Musk was not immediately out there for remark.
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