Musk responds to ‘coordinated X ban’ reports with a single emoji

X/Twitter owner Elon Musk, ever succinct in his posts on his own social media platform, has responded to reports of a “coordinated response” from the UK, Canadian and Australian governments to the ongoing Grok scandal in a characteristically brief fashion.

As a reminder, xAI’s chatbot has come under fire over it being used to ‘undress’ images of women and children, with UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer asking for “all options to be on the table” when it comes to taking action, and his spokesperson branding the company’s decision to limit image generation to paying subscribers “insulting” to victims of misogyny and sexual violence.

Then, on Saturday, The Telegraph reported that Downing Street has “held talks with like-minded governments about a coordinated response to the controversy” surrounding Grok, with Australia and Canada ‘sharing Stamer’s concerns’ over Grok.

The article does not say anything about the “coordinated response” being a ban, and in fact, Canada’s minister for artificial intelligence and digital innovation, Evan Solomon, shut down reports saying as such.

“Contrary to media reports, Canada is not considering a ban of X,” he tweeted on Saturday.

As for Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the country’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is investigating X.

Addressing the scandal on 4 January, X’s Safety account said: “We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.

“Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”

Meanwhile, Musk responded to reports of a “coordinated response” from the three countries with an ‘expressionless face’ emoji:

More substantive comments from the tech billionaire about the UK’s actions on X and social media have seen him brand the country “prison island” and ask why the government is “so fascist”.

Why not read…?

• If you’re a victim of Grok’s AI ‘undressing’ tool - here’s what to do
• Musk and Starmer clash amid Grok ‘undressing’ scandal

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.