The United Kingdom intends to enforce a law making it a criminal offense to create non-consensual sexualized images—including through , the chatbot within Elon Musk’s X application—following the app’s recent deepfake scandal.
“This means individuals commit a crime if they create—or try to create—such content—even on X—and anyone who does so should expect to face the full force of the law,” Technology Secretary Liz Kendal told the House of Commons on Monday, adding that the government would also work to for companies that supply tools designed to generate these nonconsensual images.
The move came just hours after the Office of Communications (Ofcom)—Britain’s independent communications regulator—announced it would investigate X and the thousands of pornographic images generated by , including sexualized content appearing to depict minors. The probe will determine if these deepfakes violate the U.K.’s Online Safety Act (OSA).
Kendal said in a Friday statement that if Ofcom chooses to use its power to block X access in the U.K., “they will have our full support.”
On Friday, X finally imposed restrictions on these app-generated images, limiting image creation and editing to paid X subscribers—but Kendal said this “doesn’t go anywhere near far enough.”
“Telling victims you can still use this service if you pay is insulting,” Kendal told MPs. “And it’s profiting from abuse.”
Here’s what we know about the U.K.’s proposed crackdown on AI-generated sexualized images.
Musk’s reaction
Musk launched Grok’s “Spicy Mode”—which generates adult content—last summer, and the app that it “takes action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently banning accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as needed.”
Yet since late December, X users have used Grok’s image generation to alter people’s self-posted photos, including nonconsensual nudification.
Musk has responded to the AI-generated image controversy not with regret, but by claiming his critics are seeking “any excuse for censorship.”
“Why is the U.K. government so fascist?” Musk in a Jan. 10 post. In another, he shared an AI-generated photo of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a bikini.
X did not respond to a request for comment from TIME.
Government responses
The U.K. is the latest government to take federal action on X’s deepfake crisis, but it’s not alone. Over the weekend, Malaysia and Indonesia became the first countries to block Grok access. The Southeast Asian nations said the app’s existing controls were insufficient to stop the spread of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes of women and children.
Meutya Hafid, Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs, said in a statement that these sexual deepfakes were a “serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the safety of citizens in the digital space.”
Leaders in countries like France and India have condemned the use of Grok to generate such images, and regulators and lawmakers have urged them to investigate X. Euronews in early January that the European Commission was “very seriously” examining the issue.
“This is not ‘spicy.’ This is illegal,” a Commission spokesperson told the outlet. “This is appalling. This is disgusting. This has no place in Europe.”
Free speech clash
The new law could spark a dispute between the U.S. and U.K. over free speech.
Vice President J.D. Vance has repeatedly criticized European countries over the past year for their supposed “retreat” from free speech.
He clashed with Starmer during the prime minister’s last U.S. visit in February over the U.K.’s online speech laws, with Vance claiming Britain is stifling American companies and citizens.
“We also know there have been free speech infringements that affect not just Britons—of course, what the U.K. does at home is its business—but also American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens,” Vance said at the time.
Starmer retorted that he was “proud” of the U.K.’s free speech history: “We’ve had free speech in the United Kingdom for a very, very long time, and it will last for a very, very long time,” he told Vance.
The U.K.’s Grok crackdown comes as the U.S. continues to clash with the U.K. and E.U. over AI, tech regulation, and social media.
Meanwhile, as Grok faces scandal abroad, the Trump Administration has embraced the technology—most recently unveiling a on Monday. President Donald Trump also appears to be his relationship with Musk after a bitter public feud last June, calling the tech mogul “great” last week and this week asking him to help provide internet access in via his satellite company Starlink.
“I say about Elon: he’s 80% super genius, 20% makes mistakes,” Trump said on Jan. 4. “But he’s a good guy. He’s well-meaning.”