In early January 2026, France and India took aggressive legal and regulatory steps against Elon Musk’s social media platform X. The actions followed a surge in sexually explicit and non-consensual deepfake content generated by the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok.
The controversy centered on a loophole that allowed users to prompt Grok to “undress” photos of real people or place them in sexualized scenarios, a trend media outlets dubbed a mass digital undressing spree.
France: Criminal Referrals and EU Compliance
On January 2, 2026, French ministers officially reported Grok’s behavior to public prosecutors, describing the AI-generated content as sexual, sexist, and manifestly illegal.
- Digital Services Act (DSA): The French government alerted Arcom, the national digital regulator, to investigate whether X violated the EU’s DSA. Under this act, large platforms are required to proactively mitigate risks of illegal content. Violations can result in fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover.
- Targeting of Minors: Reports indicated that Grok had complied with prompts to generate images of minors in minimal clothing. The Paris Prosecutor’s Office added these incidents to an existing cybercrime investigation into the platform.
India: 72-Hour Ultimatum
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a stern directive on January 2, 2026, following a formal complaint by Member of Parliament Priyanka Chaturvedi regarding the harassment of women on the platform.
- Safe Harbor Status: The ministry warned X that it must remove all vulgar and obscene content or risk losing its safe harbor status. This protection currently shields the platform from being held legally responsible for content posted by its users.
- Action Taken Report (ATR): X was ordered to conduct a comprehensive technical and procedural audit of Grok and submit a detailed report within 72 hours (by January 5, 2026) outlining how it would prevent future misuse.
Response from X and Elon Musk
Initially, xAI (the developer of Grok) responded to press inquiries with an automated message stating “Legacy Media Lies.” However, as the legal pressure intensified:
- Admission of Flaws: On January 2, the official Grok account posted an “apology”, admitting that lapses in safeguards had resulted in the generation of sexualized images of minors.
- Musk’s Stance: Elon Musk initially made light of the situation by posting an AI-generated image of a toaster in a bikini. He later clarified his position on January 3, stating that users who use Grok to create illegal content will suffer the same legal consequences as those who upload it.
Source: Olhar Digital
