The British government has warned that Elon Musk’s X platform could be blocked after its AI tool Grok was used to create sexual images without consent.
The media watchdog Ofcom said it would accelerate an investigation into X as a backlash against the site grew.
After ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site, Elon Musk accused the UK government of being “fascist” and wanting to suppress free speech.
Donald Trump’s free speech tsar compared the Government’s threats against X to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. She said the UK was “contemplating a Russia-style X ban, to protect them from bikini images”.
GBNews reports: Anna Pauline Luna, a Republican Congresswoman allied with Mr Trump, has threatened to bring forward sanctions on Sir Keir and the UK should X be blocked.
Blocking the site would bring Britain into step with countries including Iran, North Korea, China and Russia.
But Government officials are said to believe coordinated action by multiple countries would send a strong message to Mr Musk.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has pledged to back Ofcom if the regulator recommends a complete block on Britons accessing the popular social media plaform.
Writing for The Telegraph, she suggested MPs opposing a ban would be siding with those who support creating “sexually manipulated images” of women and children.
Her words echoed those directed at critics of the Online Safety Act like Nigel Farage – who was accused of “being on the side of people like Jimmy Savile” simply for raising concerns.
“This is a moment for MPs on all sides of the House to stand up for decency and call out platforms which allow explicit, degrading and illegal content,” she wrote.
“It’s time to choose a side. They can either support the action we are taking under the Online Safety Act or they can ally with those who think the creation and publication of sexually manipulated images of women and children is acceptable.”
Her comments appeared directed at Mr Farage, who has called the Grok feature “horrible in every way, distasteful, sick” – but opposes banning the platform.
Though on Saturday, David Lammy said US Vice President JD Vance agreed that Grok’s use was “entirely unacceptable” when the pair met.
The Deputy Prime Minister discussed the matter with his American counterpart on a trip to Washington DC.
He told The Guardian: “I think he recognised the very seriousness with which images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he recognised how despicable, unacceptable, that is and I found him sympathetic to that position.”
Ofcom is expected to announce its recommended course of action within days.
