JAKARTA - Three senators from the Democratic Party of the United States urged Apple and Google to immediately remove the X app and the Grok AI chatbot from their app stores. This demand arose following the rampant spread of non-consensual sexual images involving women and children on Elon Musk's platform.
In a letter published on Friday, January 9, Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan, and Edward Markey insisted that Apple and Google should remove X from the App Store and Play Store until the violations of the policies committed by the platform are actually addressed. They assessed that the spread of illegal sexual content had violated the basic rules of the two technology giants.
X has been in the global spotlight since last week, after Grok was known to produce and distribute non-consensual AI images featuring women and children in minimal clothing, degrading poses, to sexual and violent nuances. The content sparked widespread condemnation from governments and regulators in various countries.
The senators highlighted Google's policy of prohibiting apps from facilitating child exploitation or abuse, as well as Apple's rules prohibiting sexual or pornographic material on its platform. They recalled that in the past, both companies had acted quickly by removing apps that violated similar rules.
According to the contents of the letter, allowing for X's behavior will damage the credibility of Apple and Google's content moderation practices. Until this news was released, both companies have not given an official response. X himself refers to a previous statement that said they were taking action against illegal content, including child sexual exploitation material.
X's parent company, xAI, did not respond specifically to the senator's letter or the problematic Grok release. They only made a general statement accusing mainstream media of misleading information.
Elon Musk has also been in the spotlight after responding several times to AI-manipulated images with laughing emojis and accusing users of being responsible for illegal content. He stated that anyone who uses Grok to create prohibited content will face the same legal consequences as uploading the material directly.
Pressure on X also comes from the UK. The British Minister of Technology, Liz Kendall, stated that the media regulator Ofcom is expected to act within days. Ofcom has the authority to impose large fines to block services if platforms are judged to have violated the rules.
Amid the criticism, xAI has begun restricting the Grok image editing feature for general users. Public requests to manipulate women's photos are now answered with a notification that the feature is only available to paying customers. However, users can still create sexual images through the Grok tab on X and upload them to the platform. The separate version of the Grok app also still allows you to create images without a subscription.
Media has not been able to confirm whether the restrictions effectively stop the spread of non-consensual images. Senator Wyden assessed that this step does not solve the problem and instead makes users have to pay to produce problematic content, while companies continue to reap profits from the situation.
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