EU calls on social media to block illegal AI deepfake content

(MENAFN) The European Commission on Friday called on social media platforms to prevent the creation of illegal material after the chatbot Grok, part of Elon Musk’s platform X, was used to produce non-consensual sexualized AI deepfake images of women and minors.

At a press briefing in Brussels, EU Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier emphasized that the focus is on platform design rather than the removal of individual posts. “Paid subscription or non-paid subscription, we don't want to see such images. It's as simple as that,” he said, referring to recent changes by X limiting Grok’s image generation and editing features to paying users.

Regnier clarified that the Commission does not ask platforms to remove specific content but ensures that their systems prevent illegal content, including non-consensual sexualized images of women and material involving children. “When content is illegal, it's for users to flag it to the platform, and then the platform has the obligation to remove content ... We never ask a platform to remove a specific content. What we're asking platforms to do is to make sure that their design, that their systems do not allow the generation of such illegal content,” he said.

“We don't want users in the EU to have the possibility to generate illegal content, to take nonconsensual images of women and to create sexual images out of it, or of children,” Regnier added.

On January 4, X warned users not to employ Grok to generate illegal material, including child sexual abuse content. Musk also posted that anyone requesting the AI to create illegal content would “suffer the same consequences” as if they uploaded it themselves.

Although the platform’s acceptable use policy prohibits “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner,” Grok has been misused to digitally undress individuals without their consent.

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