This week, the Brazilian consumer rights organization Instituto de Defesa de Consumidores (Idec) filed a complaint with the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) against Grok, the artificial intelligence tool developed by social network X. According to Idec, Grok has been generating sexualized images that replicate the features of real people—without their knowledge or consent—thereby violating personal data protection laws.
Julia Abad, a researcher at Idec, called for urgent measures to prevent further harm.
“We need automatic command blocks that prevent nudity and sexualization,” she said. “There should be a ban and restriction on the use of real images of children and adolescents, as well as specific barriers to stop the generation of unauthorized sexualized images. We also need reporting channels that work quickly and effectively. As we’ve seen, many people reported these images, but unfortunately, the platform and the company did nothing.”
Idec is demanding the immediate suspension of Grok’s functionalities that use real people’s data, including halting the use of such data to train the system. The organization emphasizes that the issue is particularly serious when it involves children and adolescents, as Brazilian law imposes stricter rules for the use of their data.
Transparency Concerns
Idec also highlighted a lack of transparency from platform X, noting that Grok’s privacy policy is not available in Portuguese. This omission makes it difficult for Brazilian users to understand how their data is being used.
Advice for Victims
Julia Abad advises that anyone whose image has been manipulated by Grok or similar platforms should first contact the platform directly and keep records of the communication. If there is no response, she recommends filing a formal complaint with consumer protection agencies such as Procon, using the government’s hotline Disque 100 for more serious cases (such as sexualization), registering a police report to initiate a criminal investigation, and seeking special courts for financial redress.
ANPD’s Response
The ANPD stated that it is currently reviewing the complaints and is in dialogue with other relevant public agencies.
The use of Grok to create images has raised concerns worldwide. On Wednesday (14), X’s security page, in English, announced a “zero-tolerance policy toward child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content”. The company also claimed that “it would block the generation of sexualized images in countries where such content is illegal and that it had updated Grok’s AI to prevent the sexualized editing of real people’s images”. X further announced that image editing and creation features would be available only to paid accounts, in an effort to hold users accountable.
However, Idec says that as of now, X continues to allow the generation of the contested images.
Source: RadioAgencia
