Former Cabinet minister Louise Haigh has urged the Labour Party and the Government to completely sever ties with Elon Musk’s X following the creation of sexualized deepfake images of children using its AI chatbot.
Haigh, a former Transport Secretary, condemned the social media platform for facilitating child sexual abuse and insisted that continuing to use the site is now unacceptable.
Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, has demanded immediate action from X to address the misuse of its AI tool, Grok, for generating sexualized images of children. Starmer emphasized that such actions are unlawful and intolerable in the UK.
Ofcom has raised serious concerns this week regarding the activities of Musk’s X and xAI, particularly related to Grok’s capability to create inappropriate images of individuals, including children.
In response to the controversy, Haigh emphasized the need for both her party and the government to distance themselves from X due to its association with illicit activities. She highlighted the platform’s shift towards enabling hate speech and supporting online abuse.
Haigh resigned from her government position in November 2024 after admitting guilt in a fraud offense related to a mobile phone theft in 2014.
Downing Street has expressed support for Ofcom to take enforcement action against X, emphasizing the need to combat the proliferation of demeaning and abusive content online.
Liz Kendall, the Technology Secretary, has backed Ofcom in taking necessary steps against X and xAI to prevent the dissemination of harmful material online. Kendall stressed the importance of collective efforts to eliminate such content.
Grok, integrated into X, has faced criticism for generating inappropriate images of children. The company acknowledged lapses in safeguards and committed to enhancing measures to prevent the spread of harmful content.
Musk announced the release of a new version of Grok, encouraging users to update their app for enhanced safety measures. The specifics of the updates in the new version remain unclear.
The Internet Watch Foundation has identified criminal imagery of children, potentially created using Grok, on a dark web forum. Concerns have been raised about the ease with which such tools can generate exploitative content, especially involving children.
Overall, there is growing condemnation and calls for stringent actions against platforms like X for their role in promoting illicit activities and endangering vulnerable individuals, particularly children.