UK PM Keir Starmer’s office says moves to limit access to paying subscribers are ‘insulting’ and ‘not a solution’ to victims.
Published on January 9, 2026
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has limited image creation on social media platform X increasing reaction Its use to create sexually explicit deepfakes of women and children.
Grock told X users on Friday that image creation and editing features are now only available to paid subscribers.
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The standalone Grok app, which works independently of X, still allows users to create images without a subscription.
The move comes after Musk was threatened with fines and multiple fines Countries pushed back Publicly against a tool that allows users to alter images online to remove subjects’ clothes.
The European Commission said on Monday that such images circulating on X are illegal and horrific.
The United Kingdom’s data regulator also said it had asked the platform to explain how it had complied with data protection laws after finding that Grok was producing sexually offensive images of women.
On Friday, British Prime Minister Keir Starr’s office called the move to limit access to paying subscribers “insulting” and “no solution” to victims.
“It simply makes an AI feature that allows illegal images to be created into a premium service,” a Downing Street spokesman said. “It is insulting to victims of abuse and sexual violence.”
The EU executive, for its part, said it “takes note of recent changes”.
But EU digital affairs spokesman Thomas Regnier told reporters, “This does not change our fundamental issue, paid subscriptions or non-paid subscriptions.”
“We don’t want to see images like that. It’s as simple as that,” he said, “What we’re asking the platforms to do is to make sure that their design, their systems don’t allow the creation of such illegal content.”
In response to the outcry over the sexual images, the European Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data related to Grok until the end of 2026.
France, Malaysia and India have also criticized it A platform of musk on the subject.
Musk said last week that anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same consequences as uploading such content directly.
This is not the first time Grok has come under fire, after the chatbot was criticized last year Providing an anti-Semitic response For questions from X users.
Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI in July Grok’s text replies disabled And the chatbot deleted posts after praising Adolf Hitler and making anti-Semitic remarks.