The European Commission has launched a new formal investigation against social media platform X under the Digital Services Act (DSA) over sexual deepfakes.
This is according to a statement published on the European Commission’s website.
The move comes amid concerns that Grok was used to generate non-consensual sexually explicit images, prompting investigations and regulatory actions in other countries like the UK, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
According to the European Commission, the new investigation will assess whether X properly assessed and mitigated risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that may amount to child sexual abuse material.
The EU disclosed that these risks seem to have materialised, exposing citizens in the EU to serious harm.
“In light of this, the Commission will further investigate whether X complies with its DSA obligations to:
“Diligently assess and mitigate systemic risks, including the dissemination of illegal content, negative effects in relation to gender-based violence, and serious negative consequences to physical and mental well-being stemming from deployments of Grok’s functionalities into its platform.
“Conduct and transmit to the Commission an ad hoc risk assessment report for Grok’s functionalities in the X service with a critical impact on X’s risk profile prior to their deployment,” they stated
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy said that allowing harmful sexual deepfakes is an unacceptable form of degradation
“Sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation. With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated rights of European citizens – including those of women and children – as collateral damage of its service.”
