LAST UPDATE | 9 Jan

OFFICIALS FROM X have agreed to meet with Minister of State with responsibility for AI, Niamh Smyth, over concerns about child safety on the social media platform.

Minister of State Smyth requested to meet with the company after describing the recent news surrounding the platform’s AI tool, Grok, as “disturbing and worrying”. 

Speaking to Virgin Media News today, Smyth said it is not appropriate for the Government to maintain a presence on the social media site and that she will speak to the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, on the matter.

Smyth also called for the European Commission to immediately suspend Grok while investigations continue.

“The sharing of non-consensual intimate images is illegal, and the generation of child sexual abuse material is illegal. These are serious offences, both offline and online,” Smyth said on Wednesday. 

The agreed meeting comes as Elon Musk’s Grok has limited its image editing tool to paying users amid growing concerns about deepfakes on the platform.

The controversy that has engulfed the billionaire’s social media platform X in the last week has seen users asking the AI tool to generate sexualised images of people, including children.

Grok is now telling people making such requests that only paid subscribers are able to do so – meaning their name and payment information must be on file.

The European Commission has said it is “very seriously looking” into complaints about the tool in what is the latest controversy surrounding the use of AI to create non-consensual sexual images of women and children.

The European Union is already seeking to criminalise AI-generated child sexual abuse material and remove a statute of limitation on child abuse crimes across Europe.

An internet safety organisation said its analysts have confirmed the existence of “criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13 which appears to have been created using the (Grok) tool”.

Grok’s move to limit the tool to paying users is “not good enough”, The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said.

Hannah Swirsky, head of policy at the IWF, said: “This move does not undo the harm which has been done.

“We do not believe it is good enough to simply limit access to a tool which should never have had the capacity to create the kind of imagery we have seen in recent days.

“Companies must make sure the products they build and make available to the global public are safe by design.

“If that means governments and regulators need to force them to design safer tools, then that is what must happen. Sitting and waiting for unsafe products to be abused before taking action is unacceptable.”

The Irish Government has claimed that existing domestic laws are adequate to deal with the issue, but opposition parties have argued that there are loopholes that need to be closed.

The Attorney General is currently exploring whether additional laws are needed.

‘Insulting’

Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan has deleted his X account over the digital undressing scandal, with a number of other politicians and groups like Women’s Aid and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre also walking away from it. 

In the UK, Downing Street said “all options were on the table”, including a boycott of X.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said the change “turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service”. 

“It’s not a solution. In fact, it’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence,” the spokesperson said.

“No one should have to go through the ordeal of seeing intimate deepfakes of themselves online and we won’t allow the proliferation of these demeaning images.

“X needs to deal with this urgently and Ofcom has our full backing to take enforcement action wherever firms are failing to protect UK users.”

Responding to Starmer’s comments, Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said he should “reconsider this course of action, or there will be consequences”.

“There are always technical bugs during the early phases of new technology,” she said, adding: “If Starmer is successful in banning X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole.

“This would mirror actions previously taken by the United States in response to foreign governments restricting the platform, including the dispute with Brazil in 2024–2025, which resulted in tariffs, visa revocations, and sanctions.”

Elon Musk has previously insisted “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content”.

X has said it takes action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, “by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary”.

With reporting from Press Association and Jane Matthews