Laura Cress<\/span>Technology reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n The UK will bring into force a law which will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, following widespread concerns over Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot.<\/p>\n Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the government would also seek to make it illegal for companies to supply the tools designed to create such images.<\/p>\n Speaking to the Commons, Kendall said AI-generated pictures of women and children in states of undress, created without a person’s consent, were not “harmless images” but “weapons of abuse”.<\/p>\n The BBC has approached X for comment. It previously said: “Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It comes hours after Ofcom announced it was launching an investigation<\/a> into X over “deeply concerning reports” about Grok altering images of people.<\/p>\n If found to have broken the law, Ofcom can potentially issue X with a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or \u00a318 million, whichever is greater.<\/p>\n And if X does not comply, Ofcom can seek a court order to force internet service providers to block access to the site in the UK altogether.<\/p>\n In a statement, Kendall urged the regulator not to take “months and months” to conclude its investigation, and demanded it set out a timeline “as soon as possible”.<\/p>\n It is currently illegal to share deepfakes of adults in the UK, but legislation in the Data (Use and Access) Act which would make it a criminal offence to create or request them has not been enforced until now, despite passing in June 2025.<\/p>\n Last week, campaigners accused the government of dragging its heels<\/a> on implementing that law.<\/p>\n “Today I can announce to the House that this offence will be brought into force this week,” Kendall told MPs.<\/p>\n In addition to the Data Act, Kendall said she would also make it a “priority offence” in the Online Safety Act. <\/p>\n “The content which has circulated on X is vile. It’s not just an affront to decent society, it is illegal,” she said.<\/p>\n “Let me be crystal clear – under the Online Safety Act, sharing intimate images of people without their consent, or threatening to share them, including pictures of people in their underwear, is a criminal offence for individuals and for platforms.<\/p>\n “This means individuals are committing a criminal offence if they create or seek to create such content including on X, and anyone who does this should expect to face the full extent of the law.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the technology secretary said the “responsibilities do not just lie with individuals for their own behaviour” – and “the platforms that host such material must be held accountable, including X”.<\/p>\n She said the government would also build on measures outlined in the Crime and Policing Bill to criminalise nudification apps. <\/p>\n “This new criminal offence will make it illegal for companies to supply tools designed to create non-consensual intimate images, targeting the problem at its source,” she said.<\/p>\n “In addition to all of these actions, we expect technology companies to introduce the steps recommended by Ofcom’s guidance on how to make platforms safer for women and girls without delay.<\/p>\n “If they do not, I am prepared to go further.”<\/p>\n Legal expert Jamie Hurworth said Kendall’s comments were “an indicator of how seriously the government are now taking this issue”. <\/b><\/p>\n “It remains to be seen whether an overstretched police force has sufficient resources to investigate and bring perpetrators before the courts but it is important that each link in the chain – from individual creators to social media platforms – is held to account for their involvement in this type of behaviour.”<\/p>\n Following on from the technology secretary’s comments in the Commons, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the Parliamentary Labour Party: “If X cannot control Grok, we will – and we’ll do it fast because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ofcom’s investigation will examine whether X has failed to take down illegal content quickly when it became aware of it, and taken “appropriate steps” to prevent people in the UK from seeing it.<\/p>\n The decision follows a global backlash over Grok’s image creation feature, with both Malaysia and Indonesia temporarily blocking access to the tool over the weekend.<\/p>\n An Ofcom spokesperson did not give an indication on how long the investigation would take but said it would be a “matter of the highest priority”.<\/p>\n In a response to an earlier post questioning why other AI platforms were not being looked at, Elon Musk said the UK government wanted “any excuse for censorship”.<\/p>\n But Kendall refuted this.<\/p>\n “This is not, as some would claim, about restricting freedom of speech,” she said. <\/p>\n “It is about tackling violence against women and girls.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Shadow technology secretary Julia Lopez welcomed Ofcom’s investigation, and said her party supported the government on nudification tools.<\/p>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/b181\/live\/401595e0-efde-11f0-be9a-5d00009628a6.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n‘Not about’ restricting free speech<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n