UK says banning Elon Musk’s Platform X ‘on the table’ over sexualized Grok AI images

London — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday he wants “all options to be on the table,” including a possible ban on Elon Musk’s X platform in Britain over its use of its artificial intelligence tool Grok to generate sexualized images of people without their consent.

Starmer’s remarks come as Elon Musk’s platform faces scrutiny from regulators around the world over Grok’s image-editing tool, which allowed users to create sexualized and digitally altered photos of real people. including minors.

“It’s shameful, it’s disgusting and it must not be tolerated. X must take control of this,” Starmer said in an interview with a British radio station. “It’s illegal. We’re not going to tolerate it. I’ve asked that all options be on the table.”

A source in Starmer’s office reiterated to CBS News on Friday that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to regulating X in Britain.

CBS News verified that Grok responded to user requests asking him to edit images of women to show them in bikinis or scantily clad, including prominent public figures such as first lady Melania Trump.

Last week, Grok, a chatbot developed by Musk’s company xAI, acknowledged “safeguarding gaps” that allowed users to generate sexualized and digitally altered photos of minors.

Grok told users that as of Friday, access to its image generation tool was limited “to paid subscribers” of its user verification service. Paid subscribers must provide their credit card and personal information to the company, which could deter some people from using the service, especially if they intended to use Grok’s AI tool to create illegal images of minors.

xAI responded to a request for comment from CBS News on Friday regarding criticism of Grok’s image generation tool and steps taken to limit access to it, saying: “Legacy media lies.”

Speaking to reporters Friday morning, a British government spokesperson called the decision to limit access to Grok’s image-editing tool to paid users “insulting” to victims of misogyny and sexual violence, saying it “simply turns an AI feature that enables the creation of illegal images into a premium service.”

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, it is a criminal offense to share intimate images without consent on social media, and social media companies are required to proactively remove this content, as well as prevent it from appearing in the first place.

If they fail to do so, companies face hefty fines or, ultimately, what would effectively amount to a ban from Britain’s independent media regulator Ofcom. Ofcom can force payment providers, advertisers and internet service providers to stop working with a site, preventing it from making money or being accessible from the UK.

In a post shared on its own X account on Monday, Ofcom said it was “aware of serious concerns raised regarding a Grok feature on

“We have made urgent contact with

Musk’s platform has faced scrutiny from governments around the world, including the European Union and the US Congress, over Grok AI’s digital alteration of real-world images.

On Wednesday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in an article on Disposal Actas well as the terms and conditions of X.”

“These illegal images pose a serious threat to the privacy and dignity of the victims. They should be removed and safeguards put in place,” Cruz said, adding that he was encouraged by the steps taken by X to remove the illegal images.

On Thursday, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, threatened to sanction the British government if Starmer decided to ban X in the United Kingdom.

“If Starmer succeeds in banning @X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation currently being drafted to sanction not just Starmer, but Britain as a whole,” Paulina Luna said in a post on her own X account.

Aimée Picchi contributed to this report.