EU calls on social media apps to stop illegal content

(MENAFN) The European Commission has called on social media platforms to prevent the creation of illegal content following public backlash over the use of the chatbot Grok, part of Elon Musk’s X platform, to produce non-consensual sexualized AI deepfake images of women and minors.

At a press briefing in Brussels, EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier emphasized that the Commission’s focus is on platform design rather than removing individual posts. “Paid subscription or non-paid subscription, we don't want to see such images. It's as simple as that,” he said, referring to X’s recent restrictions limiting Grok’s image generation and editing features to paying users.

Regnier clarified that the EU does not request platforms to take down specific content. Instead, the aim is to ensure systems are designed to prevent users from generating illegal content, including non-consensual sexual images of women and children. “When content is illegal, it's for users to flag it to the platform, and then the platform has the obligation to remove content … We never ask a platform to remove a specific content. What we're asking platforms to do is to make sure that their design, that their systems do not allow the generation of such illegal content,” he said.

He added, “We don't want users in the EU to have the possibility to generate illegal content, to take nonconsensual images of women and to create sexual images out of it, or of children.”

X recently warned users not to use Grok to generate illegal material, including content depicting child sexual abuse, and Musk stated that anyone attempting to generate illegal content would face the same consequences as if they had uploaded it themselves. Despite the platform’s acceptable use policy prohibiting depictions of individuals in pornographic ways, some users have exploited Grok to digitally undress people without their consent.

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