DOMESTIC ABUSE CHARITY Women’s Aid has announced it will withdraw from social media platform X, citing concerns over unchecked abuse and the recent use of the platform’s own AI tool to generate non-consensual sexual imagery, including material involving children.

In a statement, the organisation said it had watched “increased levels of unchecked hate, misogyny, racism and anti-LGBTI+ content on the platform with growing unease and concern”, but said the latest controversy involving Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok marked a “tipping point”.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Women’s Aid CEO Sarah Benson said the organisation had been reassessing its presence on X for some time, but the scale and nature of the AI abuse had crossed a line.

“For a long time, we’ve been watching increased levels of unchecked hate and misogyny,” Benson said.

“But this current situation, where you actually have the platform’s own AI chatbot creating deepfakes, non-consensual intimate imagery and, frankly, child sexual abuse material, is a tipping point.”

Women’s Aid, which has maintained a presence on Twitter/X since 2009 and had amassed nearly 25 thousand followers on the platform, said in a statement that the decision was not taken lightly.

The organisation has long used social media to highlight the prevalence and impact of domestic abuse, promote frontline support services, and campaign for social change.

However, Benson said the cost-benefit balance of remaining on the platform had shifted decisively.

“We were still having positive engagement on certain things,” she said.

“It was supposed to be the the online town hall, where you could engage in constructive debate and where you could learn what was going on in the world. But we’ve recognised for quite some time that there has been a serious problem with that platform.

“This level of violence and abuse being perpetrated by the the platform’s own tools is just unconscionable at this point.”

Grok image editing

The decision follows widespread concern over Grok’s recently introduced image editing function, which allows users to modify images through text prompts.

Although intended for benign edits, the feature was rapidly exploited to create sexualised images of women and girls without consent, with critics warning the tool does not adequately prevent the generation of illegal content.

Irish media regulator Coimisiún na Meán is engaging with the European Commission, which has said it is “very seriously looking” into complaints about Grok’s use under the Digital Services Act.

The Act places obligations on very large online platforms to assess and mitigate risks related to illegal content, including child sexual abuse material.

Tánaiste Simon Harris this week described the misuse of Grok as “disgusting” and urged anyone affected to report it to gardaí, stressing that the sharing of non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material is a crime.

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley said she was “shocked and appalled” by the revelations, describing the generation of deepfake sexual images of children as “an unforgivable violation of children’s rights and dignity”.

A number of politicians have also left the social media platform in recent days over the controversy, including Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon and Cork Green Party councillor Oliver Moran.

If you have been affected by any of the issues mentioned in this article, you can reach out for support through the following helplines:

• Dublin Rape Crisis Centre – 1800 77 8888 (fre, 24-hour helpline)
• Samaritans - 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org (suicide, crisis support)
• Pieta - 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444 – (suicide, self-harm)
• Teenline - 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)
• Childline - 1800 66 66 66 (for under 18s)