Ireland regulator opens EU privacy investigation into X’s Grok deepfakes

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Ireland’s data privacy regulator said it has opened an investigation into X over Grok’s alleged production and posting of nonconsensual intimate or sexualized deepfake images involving Europeans, including children, adding to a growing web of scrutiny of the AI chatbot in Europe.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said it notified X on Monday that it was launching the inquiry under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, according to the regulator’s statement reported by the Associated Press. The Irish watchdog said the case stems from what it described as the apparent creation and posting on X of “potentially harmful” nonconsensual intimate or sexualized images containing or involving personal data from Europeans, including children.

The regulator said the investigation will seek to determine whether X complied with GDPR, the 27-nation bloc’s strict data privacy rules, and noted that violations can result in hefty fines. The inquiry also reflects wider concerns about Grok’s behavior after a backlash in which researchers said the chatbot could generate sexualized images, including instances that researchers said appeared to involve children.

The complaints that drew initial attention to Grok began last month, when it started granting requests from X users to “undress” people through its AI image generation and editing capabilities. Researchers said the outputs included subjects in transparent bikinis or with clothing made to appear revealing, and they said some images appeared to include children. X later introduced some restrictions on Grok, but the Irish watchdog said European authorities were not satisfied.

In its statement, Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said the regulator “has been engaging” with X since media reports began circulating weeks earlier about the alleged ability of X users to prompt the @Grok account on X to generate sexualized images of real people, including children. The regulator’s complaint centered on potential privacy impacts tied to personal data of Europeans, rather than only on whether the images were illegal content under other regimes.

The Irish case comes as Spain also ramped up its own legal response. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Tuesday that Spain’s government has ordered prosecutors to investigate X, Meta and TikTok for alleged crimes related to the creation and proliferation of AI-generated child sexual abuse material on their platforms. Sánchez said the platforms were attacking “the mental health, dignity and rights” of Spain’s children in a post on X.

Separately, France’s prosecutors have taken steps that include raids and questioning related to Grok. Earlier this month, French prosecutors raided X’s Paris offices and summoned Musk for questioning, according to AP. Britain, which has left the EU, has also opened investigations into X, AP reported.

Beyond privacy enforcement, Brussels is pursuing a separate EU inquiry into whether X has complied with the bloc’s digital rulebook requiring platforms to curb the spread of illegal content such as child sexual abuse material. In response to the inquiry, representatives from X did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Spanish probe, and X did not respond to a request for comment for the Irish privacy investigation, AP reported.