The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into whether X failed to assess and mitigate risks before deploying Grok’s AI features, after concerns over the spread of illegal content including child sexual abuse material.
The probe will examine whether X complied with its obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act when rolling out Grok’s image generation tools, and whether safeguards were sufficient to prevent serious harm to users.
“With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated rights of European citizens — including those of women and children — as collateral damage of its service,”
Said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.
The investigation follows findings that illegal sexual content generated by Grok continued circulating on X despite the company introducing restrictions, geoblocking and limits on image generation to paid subscribers.
EU officials have been increasingly critical of the platform, with Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier earlier condemning Grok’s so-called “Spicy Mode,” saying:
“This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting.”
The case builds on earlier enforcement action under the Digital Services Act, after X was fined €120 million in December 2023 for deceptive design practices, ad transparency failures and restricting researcher access.
If breaches are confirmed, the Commission said X could be found in violation of multiple DSA provisions requiring platforms to assess systemic risks and prevent the dissemination of illegal content and gender-based harm.