As online safety watchdog prepares to examine whether it has breached UK law, the Labour administration is being given conflicting advice on whether to remain on the social media site
A former cabinet minister has urged the government to leave social media site X amid concerns the platform’s AI was generating sexualised images of children – which are now the subject of a formal regulatory investigation.
Louise Haigh, who was previously transport secretary, said continuing to use the social media platform was “unconscionable”. Last week, media watchdog Ofcom contacted X to raise concerns about how Grok, the site’s AI tool, was being used. Reports suggest some users are asking the tool to create child sexual abuse materials and “undressed images” of women.
The regulator announced this week that it has opened a formal investigation into whether the social media site has broken UK online safety laws.
Haigh, who resigned from government after it emerged she had previously been convicted of a fraud offence, said she had maintained an X account “because a critical mass of people, including the government and journalists who we need to communicate with as MPs, remained on the site”.
She continued: “However, the revelations around the enablement, if not encouragement, of child sexual abuse mean it is unconscionable to use the site for another minute. I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.”
Haigh’s account remains on the website but posts have been protected, and she said she had not used it personally “for some time”.
The government suspended all paid advertising on the platform in April 2023, over the past year, some Labour MPs last year have urged the administration to go further and reconsider the use of X entirely, amid concerns about safety, political influence, and its role in amplifying extremist content.
A review is currently underway by the Government Communication Service.
But in answer to questions in the House of Lords on the topic on Monday, government whip Baroness Anderson said the government “will continue to post organic content on X” because millions of British citizens continue to use it.
She added: “Not only are 19.2 million British citizens registered with X, but 10.8 million families use X as their main news source; that is more than any other social platform, which I find genuinely extraordinary. We would be doing a disservice by removing government communications from X when that is where people are actually accessing them; we are making sure that facts are available.”
However, a Downing Street spokesperson yesterday insisted that “all options were on the table”, including potentially leaving the platform, if X did not take action on intimate deepfakes.
One onlooker urging government to maintain a presence on X is prime minister Keir Starmer’s former director of strategic communications James Lyons, who said that the platform is “an important battleground for ideas”.
Related content
- ‘This is innovation, and it is a good thing’ – exploring government’s growing use of influencers for public messaging campaigns
- Public bodies tighten restrictions on TikTok
- Which MP has earned £40,000 from X posts?
“There are a number of reasons why the government are right to keep it under review, but not to leap in and come off here,” he said, in an appearance on The Rundown podcast from PublicTechnology sister publication PoliticsHome “I take the view that your job in political communication is to persuade people, and to persuade people, you have to engage, and I think you should be using all the platforms and forums that you can to do that. And you don’t want to leave a vacuum.”
He admitted that the government is “not going to sway very many people on there because maybe people have already got a fixed view”, but argued that it is still “important to contest the space”.
Announcing the launch of its formal investigation, Ofcom said: “We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children. We have made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK. Based on their response we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation.”
‘An insult’
In response to the recent criticism, X took steps to limit the usage of the image-creation and -editing functions of its AI tools to only paying subscribers.
Although the move was intended to help address people’s concerns about how the tool is being used, it prompted a strong rebuke from technology secretary of state Liz Kendall.
“Sexually manipulating images of women and children is despicable and abhorrent,” she said. “It is an insult and totally unacceptable for Grok to still allow this if you’re willing to pay for it. I expect Ofcom to use the full legal powers parliament has given them.”
She added: “I would remind xAI that the Online Safety Act Includes the power to block services from being accessed in the UK, if they refuse to comply with UK law. If Ofcom decide to use those powers they will have our full support. We will be banning nudification apps in the Crime and Policing Bill which is in parliament now. We are in the coming weeks bringing in to force powers to criminalise the creation of intimate images without consent.I expect all platforms to abide by Ofcom’s new Violence Against Women and Girls guidance and if they do not, I am prepared to go further. We are as determined to ensure women and girls are safe online as we are to ensure they are safe in the real world. No excuses.”
Last weekend, X issued a warning to users not to use Grok to generate illegal content, including child sexual abuse material.
Also commenting on the platform, Musk said: “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”
This story contains content from PublicTechnology sister publications Holyrood and PoliticsHome
