Europe’s privacy watchdog launches ‘large-scale’ probe into Elon Musk’s X
Europe’s privacy watchdog launches ‘large-scale’ probe into Elon Musk’s X
Publish Date: 2026-02-17 06:32:00
Source Domain: www.aol.com
Certainly! Here are the key points from the article in an unordered list:
– The European Union’s data privacy watchdog, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), has initiated a “large-scale” inquiry into Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, over sexualized images generated by its AI chatbot Grok.
– The investigation is focused on whether X has complied with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in handling the personal data of EU citizens.
– This addition follows regulatory probes in France and the UK where concerns have been raised about sexualized deepfake images generated using Grok, notably those involving women and children.
– X, under pressure from European governments, had limited Grok’s capacity to generate explicit images, but remains subject to multiple investigations.
– The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office has also launched an investigation into X and xAI, exploring the handling of personal data and the creation of harmful content by the Grok system.
– European authorities including those in Paris raided X offices at the beginning of February as part of a wider investigation into the platform and its AI operations, with Musk himself being summoned for questioning.
– In response, X has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the allegations as baseless.
– The controversy has prompted renewed discussions on the potential harms of AI in social media, especially on young people, leading to regulatory responses like the UK’s new laws to enforce stricter compliance by AI chatbots.
