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A politician from Northern Ireland has announced her departure from Elon Musk’s social media platform X, citing serious concerns about the site’s handling of deepfake content and the wider implications for the safety of women and children online. Cara Hunter, a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), revealed her decision, pointing specifically to the risks stemming from deepfake imagery created by X’s AI tool, Grok. Hunter, who was herself the victim of a deepfake attack four years ago, criticized the platform’s apparent failure to protect vulnerable users.
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has initiated a formal inquiry into X to determine if it has fulfilled its obligations under the Online Safety Act to shield users from illegal material. The regulator has set a strict deadline of 9 January for X to detail the measures it has implemented to comply with UK law. Should the investigation find the company in breach, Ofcom has the authority to impose hefty fines — up to £18 million or 10% of the company’s global revenue, whichever is higher. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill expressed strong support for the investigation, condemning the presence of illegal content on social media platforms as “absolutely disgraceful and disgusting.”
X responded by emphasizing its commitment to combating illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, through account suspensions and collaboration with law enforcement. The company made clear that users who employ Grok to generate illegal content will face the same penalties as those who upload such material directly. Despite these assurances, criticisms continue to mount. Hunter described Grok as representing “the epitome of how disgraceful X has become,” explaining that her ethical stance and past experience with deepfakes made continued use intolerable. She said the platform has become a hostile environment, particularly for women, and called for government intervention, highlighting the lack of adequate protections on the site.
Other political figures have voiced their concerns about X’s response and the broader challenges posed by social media and AI technology. O’Neill criticized X’s handling of the situation as “woefully inadequate” and stressed the necessity of government action where companies fail to protect users. DUP leader Gavin Robinson called for a UK-wide regulatory approach to address explicit and manipulated content disseminated through social media and AI-driven tools. Additionally, the Green Party of Northern Ireland has announced it will stop using X, citing persistent and systemic failures around harmful content. The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, condemned the creation of non-consensual sexual images via Grok as “disgraceful” and “disgusting.” Meanwhile, X has limited AI image generation features to paid subscribers, a move Downing Street described as “insulting” to survivors of sexual violence. Ofcom’s enforcement options include court orders that could restrict X’s business operations or even block its access within the UK, though these measures have yet to be widely tested
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