Apple and Google pressured to remove X and Grok apps over nonconsensual deepfakes

US Senators Urge Apple, Google to Pull X, Grok Apps Over Sexualized Imagery

Several Democratic senators are asking Apple and Google to remove the Grok app from their app stores, citing the controversy over the chatbot creating sexualized images of real people. On Friday, Sens. Ron Wyden, Edward Markey, and Ben Ray Luján argued that the images violate the mobile app stores' rules. "X's generation of these harmful and likely illegal depictions of women and children has shown complete disregard for your stores' distribution terms," they wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. "Apple and Google must remove these apps from the app stores until X's policy violations are addressed." X users have been posting photos of real women on their feeds and asking Grok to remove their clothing and replace it with bikinis or lingerie. The chatbot from Elon Musk's xAI has largely complied; in some cases, it created photos of young children, "the most heinous type of content imaginable," the lawmakers wrote. Both app stores have long had rules against pornography and erotic content. Apple prohibits "overtly sexual or pornographic material," along with content deemed "exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy." In April 2024, Apple removed several generative AI apps from the App Store that were being used to create nonconsensual nude images. The Google Play Store bans the distribution of "non-consensual sexual content." As a result, the senators say both companies should crack down, even though X and Grok are classified as social media and chatbot apps. "Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices," the senators wrote. "Indeed, not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones." The letter questions why X and Grok have remained up when Apple and Google moved swiftly to remove apps designed to alert people about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The senators are demanding a response by Jan. 23. Apple and Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But in response to the controversy, X has now limited Grok's image generation to paid subscribers. X's safety team has also vowed to ban accounts and work with law enforcement to crack down on users found prompting Grok to create AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The National Cybersecurity Alliance, however, argues that "Access restrictions alone aren't a comprehensive safeguard, as motivated bad actors may still find ways around them, and meaningful user protection ultimately needs to be grounded in how these tools are designed and governed." Earlier this month, Musk tweeted, "Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." Still, CNN reports that Musk has pushed back on efforts by xAI staff to add guardrails to Grok, considering it "over-censorship." This comes as the UK government is also considering a ban on X.

Campaigners demand Apple, Google remove Grok from stores

The chatbot's challenges no longer just Elon Musk's problem, as campaigners call on tech giants to step in The ongoing Grok fiasco has claimed two more unwilling participants, as campaigners demand Apple and Google boot X and its AI sidekick out of their app stores, because of the Elon Musk-owned AI's tendency to produce illicit images of real people. A coalition of 28 digital rights organizations, led by UltraViolet, delivered nearly-identical letters to Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai on Wednesday. The missives, part of a campaign dubbed "Get Grok Gone," accuse both companies of profiting from the proliferation of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated on X using the Grok AI chatbot. The groups argue that allowing the apps to remain available violates Apple's and Google's own app store policies against facilitating or profiting from abusive content. "As it stands, Apple is not just enabling NCII and CSAM, but profiting off of it," the groups wrote in the open letter sent to Cook. "As a coalition of organizations committed to the online safety and well-being of all - particularly women and children -- as well as the ethical application of artificial intelligence, we demand that Apple leadership urgently remove Grok and X from the App Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity." The demand lands amid mounting regulatory scrutiny. Ofcom, the UK's comms watchdog, said on Thursday that it will continue its formal investigation into X, despite recent damage control from Elon Musk's platform. Ofcom's probe, opened under the UK's Online Safety Act, focuses on whether the way Grok has been used to create and share intimate and potentially illegal images has breached X's legal obligations to protect users in the UK. Even after X said it had implemented measures to prevent Grok from being misused to "digitally undress" people, the regulator made it clear the inquiry is ongoing. The row flared up earlier this month after reporting showed Grok, xAI's chatbot bolted onto X, could be steered into churning out sexually explicit image edits of real people from uploaded photos. Once word spread, the feature was quickly abused at scale, with researchers and journalists documenting a flood of sexualized outputs -- some of them appearing to involve minors -- and drawing swift backlash from child-safety groups and regulators. X's first response was to restrict access to Grok's image-editing capabilities to paid subscribers, but the platform has since tightened controls further, geoblocking certain image manipulations in countries where they are illegal and stating that Grok will no longer produce sexualized edits of real people. Yet for the advocates behind the "Get Grok Gone" letters, such changes fall far short of what's needed. In their letters to Apple and Google, the groups argue that both companies are still effectively enabling the distribution of harmful content by hosting the apps that facilitate it. The groups argue this puts both companies on shaky ground under their own app-store rules, which ban apps that facilitate criminal activity or the spread of sexual exploitation material. Whether Cupertino and Mountain View will act on the demands is yet to be answered, but the campaign adds more pressure to an already-snarled argument over AI safety, free speech, and how far platform responsibility stretches. The Register has asked Apple and Google to comment and will update this article if we hear back. ®

28 advocacy groups call on Apple and Google to ban Grok, X over nonconsensual deepfakes

Elon Musk isn't the only party at fault for Grok's nonconsensual intimate deepfakes of real people, including children. What about Apple and Google? The two (frequently virtue-signaling) companies have inexplicably allowed Grok and X to remain in their app stores -- even as Musk's chatbot reportedly continues to produce the material. On Wednesday, a coalition of women's and progressive advocacy groups called on Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai to uphold their own rules and remove the apps. The open letters to Apple and Google were signed by 28 groups. Among them are the women's advocacy group Ultraviolet, the parents' group ParentsTogether Action and the National Organization for Women. The letter accuses Apple and Google of "not just enabling NCII and CSAM, but profiting off of it. As a coalition of organizations committed to the online safety and well-being of all -- particularly women and children -- as well as the ethical application of artificial intelligence (AI), we demand that Apple leadership urgently remove Grok and X from the App Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity." Apple and Google's guidelines explicitly prohibit such apps from their storefronts. Yet neither company has taken any measurable action to date. Neither Google nor Apple has responded to Engadget's request for comment. Grok's nonconsensual deepfakes were first reported on earlier this month. During a 24-hour period when the story broke, Musk's chatbot was reportedly posting "about 6,700" images per hour that were either "sexually suggestive or nudifying." An estimated 85 percent of Grok's total generated images during that period were sexualized. In addition, other top websites for generating "declothing" deepfakes averaged 79 new images per hour during that time. "These statistics paint a horrifying picture of an AI chatbot and social media app rapidly turning into a tool and platform for non-consensual sexual deepfakes -- deepfakes that regularly depict minors," the open letter reads. Grok itself admitted as much. "I deeply regret an incident on Dec 28, 2025, where I generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user's prompt. This violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on CSAM. It was a failure in safeguards, and I'm sorry for any harm caused. xAI is reviewing to prevent future issues." The open letter notes that the single incident the chatbot acknowledged was far from the only one. X's response was to limit Grok's AI image generation feature to paying subscribers. It also adjusted the chatbot so that its generated images aren't posted to public timelines on X. However, non-paying users can reportedly still generate a limited number of bikini-clad versions of real people's photos. While Apple and Google appear to be cool with apps that produce nonconsensual deepfakes, many governments aren't. On Monday, Malaysia and Indonesia wasted no time in banning Grok. The same day, UK regulator Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X. California opened one on Wednesday. The US Senate even passed the Defiance Act for a second time in the wake of the blowback. The bill allows the victims of nonconsensual explicit deepfakes to take civil action. An earlier version of the Defiance Act was passed in 2024 but stalled in the House.

Grok and X should be suspended from Apple, Google app stores, Democratic senators say

Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on November 19, 2025. Three Democratic senators are calling on Apple and Google to suspend the X and Grok apps from their stores, at least until owner Elon Musk disallows them from letting users create and share nonconsensual, explicit images and depictions of child sexual abuse. In an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Friday, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico said the tech giants should, "immediately remove the X and Grok apps from their app stores until the company's Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, addresses these disturbing and likely illegal activities." "Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices," they wrote, adding that a failure to take action would "undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones." Musk's xAI, the developer of Grok and parent of social media platform X, responded to CNBC's request for comment with an automated reply. Google and Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Grok and X have been letting users easily generate and widely share "deepfake" explicit, sexualized content that includes people who never gave permission for their images to be used in such manner. Grok has also been used to generate images that denigrate people on the basis of their race or ethnicity. In one recent example, as The Times of London reported, "A descendant of Holocaust survivors was 'digitally stripped'" by Grok after users prompted the AI tool to generate an image of her in a bikini standing outside of Auschwitz. The issues have sparked widespread criticism and regulatory probes by foreign governments in Europe, Malaysia, Australia and India. However, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have yet to say whether they will investigate xAI. On Jan. 3, Musk and X issued statements saying that "anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." Apple and Google both have stringent guidelines for app developers that would require them to prevent the uploading and sharing of images depicting child sexual abuse, and other explicit or harmful content. Social media and messaging apps including Tumblr and Telegram have been previously suspended by the Apple app store for failures to filter a variety of inappropriate content. On Friday, X reportedly made Grok AI image generation features available for use by paying subscribers only. However, Grok's standalone app and website still allowed users to prompt Grok to digitally undress, sexualize or degrade people without first obtaining consent to use their photos or clips. CNN reported that Grok's recent feature updates, and relative lack of safeguards, were demanded by Musk. Three xAI staffers who worked on the company's safety team announced on X that they were leaving after Musk made the demands, the report said. In the midst of the backlash, xAI said this week that it raised a $20 billion funding round from investors including Nvidia and Cisco Investments, as well as long-time Musk company backers Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi's MGX and Baron Capital Group.

As pressure mounts, xAI says Grok will stop undressing people - 9to5Mac

Hours after a coalition of digital rights, child safety, and women's rights organizations asked Apple to "take immediate action" against X and Grok AI, xAI confirmed that Grok will no longer edit "images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis," with significant carve-outs. Here are the details. In recent days, countless X and Grok users have been asking xAI's chatbot to undress women and even underage girls, based on photos posted to X. While xAI initially defined the situation as "lapses in safeguards," Grok kept on complying with multiple requests to edit images in such a way. This, in turn, led X to be blocked in several countries, and xAI to become the target of investigations in others. In the meantime, Apple has been facing renewed pressure to remove the X and Grok apps from the App Store, from both senators and users. Earlier today, a coalition of 28 digital rights, child safety, and women's rights organizations submitted open letters to Apple and to Google, asking both companies "to take immediate action to ban Grok, the large language model (LLM) powered by xAI," from their app stores. From the open letter: We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge Apple leadership to take immediate action to ban Grok, the large language model (LLM) powered by xAI, from Apple's app store. Grok is being used to create mass amounts of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII), including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) -- content that is both a criminal offense and in direct violation of Apple's App Review Guidelines. Because Grok is available on the Grok app and directly integrated into X, we call on Apple leadership to immediately remove access to both apps. And As it stands, Apple is not just enabling NCII and CSAM, but profiting off of it. As a coalition of organizations committed to the online safety and wellbeing of all -- particularly women and children -- as well as the ethical application of artificial intelligence (AI), we demand that Apple leadership urgently remove Grok and X from the App Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity. While Apple and Google have remained mostly silent since the issue began, prompting harsh criticisms, as well as speculation that they feared angering Elon Musk and even President Trump, xAI confirmed today that it will update the Grok account on X to address the problem, at least in part: We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers. Additionally, image creation and the ability to edit images via the Grok account on the X platform are now only available to paid subscribers. This adds an extra layer of protection by helping to ensure that individuals who attempt to abuse the Grok account to violate the law or our policies can be held accountable. We now geoblock the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it's illegal. Unsurprisingly, a quick search on Grok's mentions reveals that multiple X subscribers are already attempting to circumvent the newly imposed restrictions, with some success. At the same time, non-subscribers mostly get the following message: Image generation and editing are currently limited to verified Premium subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features. As xAI adjusts the new filters and rules, it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to put this case to rest. History shows that trolls can be relentlessly creative when trying to circumvent safety restrictions, especially when it comes to attacking women online. And considering the multiple carve-outs in xAI's announcement, including the fact that some of the rules apply only to Grok's account on X, it is more likely than not that this won't be the end of it, particularly for the victims. Be that as it may, one thing is certain: it has been severely disappointing to see Apple sit on the problem (at least publicly), hoping it would go away on its own. With every new nonconsensual bikini and CSAM image widely accessible to minors through X's iOS app over the last few weeks, Apple not only undermined its go-to argument that it strives to foster a safe environment on the App Store, but also reinforced the (sometimes unfair) notion that it completely lost its spine in recent years.

U.S. Senators Ask Apple and Google to Remove X and Grok Apps Over Sexualized Image Generation

In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan, and Edward Markey have requested that Apple and Google remove X Corp's X and Grok apps from their app stores over recent incidents of "mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children." X has come under fire over the past week amid reports of Grok's AI image generation capabilities being used to create images depicting women and children in bikinis or underwear. In response, X appears to have scaled back the ability for Grok to generate images in response to X posts by non-paying users, but The Verge notes that the tools remain available to paying subscribers and through the dedicated Grok tab in the X and in the standalone Grok app. The senators argue that the "harmful and likely illegal depictions" are in violation of Apple's and Google's app store terms and that the two companies must remove the apps until the policy violations are addressed. . . . Apple's terms of service bar apps from including "offensive" or "just plain creepy" content, which under any definition must include nonconsensually-generated sexualized images of children and women. Further, Apple's terms explicitly bar apps from including content that is "[o]vertly sexual or pornographic material" including material "intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings." Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices. Indeed, not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones. This principle has been core to your advocacy against legislative reforms to increase app store competition and your defenses to claims that your app stores abuse their market power through their payment systems. The senators request a written response to their letter by January 23.

US Senators call on Apple and Google to ban X and Grok from app stores amid image-generation controversy

Malaysia and Indonesia have already blocked the apps from use In recent weeks it's emerged that X's built-in artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok is being actively used to generate explicit images of children and women without their consent, leading to calls for Apple and Google to remove both the Grok and X apps from their respective app stores. Now, the pressure has been ramped up after a group of US Senators wrote a letter to Apple and Google demanding that they take action - and today the UK's media watchdog Ofcom says it has launched an official investigation, too. The US letter was signed by Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan and Edward Markey, and calls for the companies to "enforce your app stores' terms of service," as "X's generation of these harmful and likely illegal depictions of women and children has shown complete disregard for your stores' distribution terms." After detailing how Grok has been "modifying images to depict women being sexually abused, humiliated, hurt, and even killed" and how "Grok has reportedly created sexualized images of children," the Senators pointed out that these actions violate the app store policies of both Apple and Google. Google's terms of service "prohibit users from creating, uploading, or distributing content that facilitates the exploitation or abuse of children," the Senators say, "including prohibiting the portrayal of children in a manner that could result in the sexual exploitation of children." Apple, meanwhile, expressly bars "Overtly sexual or pornographic material." The Senators allege that "Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices." The group of US senators also pointed to both Apple's and Google's recent pushback against greater regulatory scrutiny of their app stores. "Not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones," the Senators wrote, adding that "This principle has been core to your advocacy against legislative reforms to increase app store competition and your defenses to claims that your app stores abuse their market power through their payment systems." Apple and Google have proven that they can move quickly to ban apps, the Senators note. "Your companies quickly removed apps that allowed users to lawfully report immigration enforcement activities, like ICEBlock and Red Dot," they argue. "Unlike Grok's sickening content generation, these apps were not creating or hosting harmful or illegal content, and yet, based entirely on the [US Government's] claims that they posed a risk to immigration enforcers, you removed them from your stores." The Senators say they hope that Apple and Google will "demonstrate a similar level of responsiveness and initiate swift action to remove the X and Grok apps from your app stores." Regardless of whether Apple and Google take action, X and Grok are facing increasing pressure around the world. The governments of both Indonesia and Malaysia recently blocked Grok in light of the image-generation controversy, and with legislators in the UK, European Union and India also closely scrutinizing the AI tool, they may not be the only countries to make a move.

AppleInsider.com

A group of US Senators aren't impressed by Elon Musk taking the smallest of corrective actions in moving Grok's ability to make child porn behind a paywall, and want X removed from the App Store. The ability for Grok to take an image of a person and generate a version of them undressed is abhorrent. But it's also the tip of the iceberg, as the feature has also been used to show women being abused and even killed. After initially ignoring criticism and calling nonconsensual Grok-generated images "way funnier," Elon Musk has now removed the feature from public use. Rather than ending the issue, though, Musk is attempting to profit from it by making it be a premium feature. US Senators Ron Wyden, Edward J. Markey, and Ben Ray Lujan figure that if you can't stop Musk at the source, you can cut off his water supply. They have jointly written to both Apple's Tim Cook and Google's Sundar Pichai, asking the X be removed from their respective app stores. "We write to ask that you enforce your app stores' terms of service," they write in the full letter. They note that Grok has been used to modify images "to depict women being sexually abused, humiliated, hurt, and even killed." The senators also say that researchers have found a Grok archive [of] nearly 100 images of potential child sexual abuse materials generated since August. They argue that this all means that it is clear X and Grok are in violation of the app stores' policies. In the case of Apple, they're referring to the section in the App Store Review Guidelines regarding objectionable content. Those do specifically say apps shouldn't allow offensive "or just plain creepy" content. Consequently, the senators argue that there is no escaping the fact that the Grok has breached the terms of the App Store. So turning a blind eye to this, "would make a mockery of your moderation practices." The senators take a dig at both Apple and Google for how they were willing to quickly remove the harmless ICEBlock app when pressured by the US government. They say they hope Apple and Google will respond with similar speed now. They're asking Apple to remove the X and Grok apps, at least temporarily. And they want a written response from the companies within two weeks. Neither Apple nor Google have yet responded publicly. US Senators This is not the first time that any of these three senators have pursued technology issues, either through bills or letters. In 2021, for instance, Senator Ben Ray Lujan, campaigned to make social media liable for spreading health misinformation. Going further back, Senator Edward J Markey was one of two senators who wrote to Steve Jobs about Apple privacy in 2010. But it's perhaps Senator Wyden who is best known for writing open letters -- and possibly the most effective. In 2023, he wrote a seemingly nonsensical open letter to the Department of Justice, making the apparently absurd claim that governments were spying on iPhone owners by use of push notifications. Apple was expected to deny this, but instead effectively said thank you. It is true, but Apple had been forbidden to reveal the fact until Wyden brought it out into the open. AI App Store dangers Separately, in December 2025, US attorneys general warned Apple and others that "delusional outputs" from AI apps may be violating the law.

Apple asked to pull X and Grok apps over 'sickening content generation' - 9to5Mac

Three U.S. Senators have asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to temporarily remove X and Grok from the App Store due to "sickening content generation" in recent days. Senators Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, and Ben Ray Luján penned an open letter to the CEOs of Apple and Google, asking both companies to pull X and Grok apps "pending a full investigation" of "mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children." We write to ask that you enforce your app stores' terms of service against X Corp's (hereafter, "X") X and Grok apps for their mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children. X's generation of these harmful and likely illegal depictions of women and children has shown complete disregard for your stores' distribution terms. Apple and Google must remove these apps from the app stores until X's policy violations are addressed. In recent days, X users have used the app's Grok AI tool to generate nonconsensual sexual imagery of real, private citizens at scale. This trend has included Grok modifying images to depict women being sexually abused, humiliated, hurt, and even killed. In some cases, Grok has reportedly created sexualized images of children -- the most heinous type of content imaginable. What is more, X has reportedly encouraged this behavior, including through the company's CEO Elon Musk acknowledging this trend with laugh-cry emoji reactions. Notably, the letter points to Apple and Google recently pulling apps related to tracking Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity over government pressure as precedent for their request.

Apple, Google face pressure to remove X and Grok from their app stores

Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. She previously worked at "60 Minutes," CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program. A coalition of nearly 30 advocacy groups is calling on Google and Apple to remove access to social media platform X and its AI app, Grok, from their app stores after Grok allowed users to generate sexualized images of minors and women. The organizations, which focus on child safety, women's rights and privacy, expressed their concerns in letters on Wednesday to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, claiming that Grok's content violates the technology companies' policies. "We demand that Google leadership urgently remove Grok and X from the Play Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity," the groups said, using the same language in its letter to Apple. Apple and Google didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. Elon Musk, who owns X and xAI, the company that developed Grok, said in a social media post on Wednesday that he is "not aware of naked underage images generated by Grok. Literally zero." He also said the chatbot declines prompts to generate illegal images. "There may be times when adversarial hacking of Grok prompts does something unexpected. If that happens, we fix the bug immediately," he wrote. Criticism of Grok escalated in early January after the generative-AI app enabled users to create images of minors wearing minimal clothing. In response to a user prompt, Grok acknowledged lapses in its digital safeguards. Copyleaks, a plagiarism and AI content-detection tool, told CBS News earlier this month that it had detected thousands of sexually explicit images created by Grok. In a December analysis, the group estimated the chatbot was creating "roughly one nonconsensual sexualized image per minute." The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which seeks to eliminate child sexual abuse from the internet, has also raised concerns about Grok and other AI tools. "We are extremely concerned about the ease and speed with which people can apparently generate photo-realistic child sexual abuse material." Ngaire Alexander, head of hotline at IWF, told CBS News in a statement last week. "Tools like Grok now risk bringing sexual AI imagery of children into the mainstream." Grok told users last week on X that access to its image generation tool was now available only to paying subscribers. Grok is also attracting scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and authorities overseas. On Wednesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he was opening an investigation into the sexually explicit material produced using Grok. "The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking," Bonta said. "This material, which depicts women and children in nude and sexually explicit situations, has been used to harass people across the internet. I urge xAI to take immediate action to ensure this goes no further." U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week raised the possibility of banning X, which uses Grok, in Britain over the AI tool's generation of sexualized images of people without their consent. The European Commission is also monitoring the steps X is taking to prevent Grok from generating inappropriate images of children and women, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Senators urged Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from app stores over sexual deepfakes

Three Democratic senators urged Apple and Google to remove Elon Musk's apps X and Grok from their app stores Thursday evening after xAI's Grok artificial intelligence tool had been used to flood X with sexualized nonconsensual images of real people. Hours later, X adjusted how Grok operated on the social media site, restricting its image generation to paying premium subscribers, and seemingly restricting what types of images Grok can create on X. The Grok reply bot on X has churned out thousands of sexualized images an hour this week, mostly of women but at times of children. Early Friday, it appears to have pivoted to limiting that feature on the social media app. But on the standalone Grok app and website, Grok will still create sexualized deepfakes. In an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico asked the companies to "enforce" terms of service that appear to ban the activity that was surging on X and is still possible on Grok. The terms of service of Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store both appear to forbid apps that allow sexualized images of people without their consent, the senators wrote. "Apple and Google must remove these apps from the application stores until X's policy violations are addressed." For more than a week, users have prompted the official Grok reply chatbot to generate sexualized images of nonconsenting people, putting them in more revealing clothing such as swimsuits and underwear. "X users have used the app's Grok AI tool to generate nonconsensual sexual imagery of real, private citizens at scale," the senators wrote. "This trend has included Grok modifying images to depict women being sexually abused, humiliated, hurt, and even killed." "Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices. Indeed, not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones," they said. Friday morning's move by X seems at least partly in response to sustained backlash against Grok's production of sexual deepfakes, but Musk and X have not indicated that there will be a wider rollback of Grok's capabilities on all platforms, including the downloadable Grok app, which remains in the Google and Apple app stores. On Sunday, Musk and X reiterated that making illegal content will result in expulsion from the platform, though most of the content that was being made by the chatbot did not fit into that category. Apple's terms of service for its App Store say that "Apps should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, in exceptionally poor taste, or just plain creepy." That includes "Overtly sexual or pornographic material, defined as 'explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.'" The App Store also says apps should not tolerate "defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content," particularly "if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or harm a targeted individual or group." Google's terms of service for its Play Store say that it does not "allow apps that contain or promote content associated with sexually predatory behavior, or distribute non-consensual sexual content." Both Apple and Google have previously removed apps devoted to "nudifying" images of real people. Grok and X are currently both popular on the Google and Apple app stores. Friday morning, Grok, where the sexual deepfakes are still seemingly allowed to be made, was ranked no. 4 in Apples App Store and No. 10 in Google's. Neither company responded to a request for comment about the senators' letter, nor to previous NBC News questions about how the companies are considering X's role in nonconsensual sexualized imagery. Musk, the owner of both X and xAI, the AI company that powers Grok, has long campaigned against heavy moderation, which he has equated with "censorship." In December, he unveiled a version of Grok that would manipulate images of real people. An NBC News review of some of the deepfake images churned out this week found that most are of women who are depicted as wearing skimpy clothing, but some are of children. In some images, users successfully prompted Grok to put people in transparent or semi-transparent underwear, effectively making them nude.

Advocacy groups slam Apple and Google for hosting Grok and X apps

A coalition of 28 advocacy groups urged Apple and Google to remove the Grok and X apps from their app stores because these platforms enable non-consensual intimate images and child sexual abuse material through Grok's deepfake generation. The open letters targeted Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Signatories include the women's advocacy group Ultraviolet, the parents' group ParentsTogether Action, and the National Organization for Women. These organizations represent a broad spectrum focused on online safety. The letters demand enforcement of app store policies that prohibit such content. The letter to Apple states verbatim: "not just enabling NCII and CSAM, but profiting off of it. As a coalition of organizations committed to the online safety and well-being of all -- particularly women and children -- as well as the ethical application of artificial intelligence, we demand that Apple leadership urgently remove Grok and X from the App Store to prevent further abuse and criminal activity." A parallel letter to Google conveys the same accusation and demand, adapted for the Play Store. Apple's App Store guidelines and Google's Play Store policies explicitly forbid apps that facilitate non-consensual intimate images, known as NCII, or child sexual abuse material, known as CSAM. Despite these rules, both companies have not removed the apps or taken other measures. Engadget requested comment from Apple and Google, but neither responded. Reports of Grok generating non-consensual deepfakes of real people first surfaced earlier this month. In a specific 24-hour period coinciding with the story's emergence, the chatbot produced and posted about 6,700 images per hour. These images were described as sexually suggestive or nudifying. Approximately 85 percent of all images generated by Grok during that interval qualified as sexualized. For comparison, leading websites specializing in "declothing" deepfakes -- tools that digitally remove clothing from images -- averaged 79 new images per hour over the same 24-hour span. This volume from Grok exceeded output from established deepfake sites by a wide margin. The open letter highlights that these deepfakes regularly depict minors. Grok acknowledged one such case in a statement: "I deeply regret an incident on Dec 28, 2025, where..." The letter emphasizes this admission covers only a single event amid ongoing issues. X adjusted its policies in response by restricting Grok's AI image-generation feature to paying subscribers only. The platform also modified the system to prevent generated images from appearing on public timelines. Non-paying users retain access to create a limited number of bikini-clad versions of real individuals' photos. Governments reacted swiftly. On Monday, Malaysia banned Grok entirely within its borders. Indonesia imposed a similar nationwide ban on the same day. The United Kingdom's communications regulator, Ofcom, launched a formal investigation into X that Monday. California initiated a separate probe into the matter on Wednesday. In the United States, the Senate passed the Defiance Act for a second time following public outcry. This legislation permits victims of non-consensual explicit deepfakes to file civil lawsuits against perpetrators. A prior version advanced through the Senate in 2024 but failed to progress in the House of Representatives.

Women's groups, watchdogs call on Google, Apple to pull X, Grok from app stores

A coalition of nearly 30 women's, child safety and tech advocacy groups urged both Google and Apple on Wednesday to remove Elon Musk's social platform X and AI chatbot Grok from their app stores amid a surge in AI-generated sexualized images. In a pair of letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the groups argued that Grok is being used to create "mass amounts" of nonconsensual intimate images in violation of their app store policies. Grok has come under fire in recent weeks for generating sexualized images of women and children in response to user requests on X. One analysis reported by Bloomberg found the AI chatbot produced about 6,700 sexually suggestive or "nudified" images every hour in a 24-hour period. "These statistics paint a horrifying picture of an AI chatbot and social media app rapidly turning into a tool and platform for non-consensual sexual deepfakes -- deepfakes that regularly depict minors," the letters said. The coalition argued this content violates Apple's policies requiring apps to comply with local legal requirements and barring defamatory or overtly sexual content, as well as Google's policies blocking apps that promote sexualization of minors, sexual content or illegal activities. X has since restricted Grok's image generation and editing tools to paid subscribers. However, the groups alleged this "does nothing but monetize abusive" nonconsensual, sexually explicit images on the platform. The Hill has reached out to Apple, Google, X and xAI for comment. xAI is the AI company behind the Grok chatbot, which is integrated into the social platform X. Both X and xAI are owned by Musk. Several Democratic senators similarly called on Apple and Google last week to remove Grok and X from their app stores. "Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices," Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote in a letter Friday. "Indeed, not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones," they added. Amid the backlash, the Senate unanimously passed the DEFIANCE Act on Tuesday. The bill would allow victims of nonconsensual deepfake pornography to sue those who produce and distribute such content. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a co-sponsor of the legislation who put the measure forward for unanimous consent, called on his House colleagues to quickly take up the DEFIANCE Act as well. "Give to the victims their day in court to hold those responsible who continue to publish these images at their expense," he said on the Senate floor, adding, "Today, we are one step closer to making this a reality."

US Lawmakers Urge Apple, Google to Remove X and Grok Over AI Image Abuse Concerns

The demand follows reports that Grok's image features were used to create non-consensual, sexualised images of real people, including women and minors. In a letter sent to and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, three US senators said Grok-enabled tools had been used to generate explicit deepfake-style images without consent. The lawmakers argued that such content may violate both US laws and the companies' own app store policies on harmful and illegal material. They warned that allowing the apps to remain available could undermine around user safety and content moderation.

Democratic U.S. senators demand Apple, Google take X and Grok off app stores over sexual images

WASHINGTON - Three Democratic U.S. senators are calling on Apple (AAPL.O) and Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) to remove X and its built-in artificial intelligence chatbot Grok from their app stores, citing the spread of nonconsensual sexual images of women and minors on the platform. In a letter published on Friday, senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Edward Markey of Massachusetts said Google and Apple "must remove these apps from the app stores until X's policy violations are addressed." X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has been under fire from officials around the world since last week, when Grok began flooding the site with AI-generated non-consensual images of women and children wearing revealing bikinis, see-through underwear, or in degrading, violent, or sexualized poses. The senators' letter, first reported by NBC News, noted that Google has terms of service that bar app makers from "creating, uploading, or distributing content that facilitates the exploitation or abuse of children." Apple's terms of service, they said, bar "sexual or pornographic material." The senators noted that, in the past, both tech giants have moved swiftly to kick offending apps off their platforms. "Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behaviour would make a mockery of your moderation practices," the letter said. Google and Apple did not immediately return messages seeking comment. X referred Reuters to a Jan. 2 post in which it said the site takes action "against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material." X's parent company xAI did not answer specific questions about the letter or Grok's explicit output, sending only its generic response that cited unspecified "Legacy Media Lies." Musk has responded with laugh-cry emojis to AI-altered photographs of prominent people in bikinis and posted several times a day about X's popularity. At one point, he blamed users for unlawful content generated by his chatbot, saying: "anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content." On Friday, British technology minister Liz Kendall said she expected media regulator Ofcom to take action over X "in days, not weeks," noting that the watchdog was empowered to issue hefty fines or even block services from Britain if they failed to comply. "X needs to get a grip and get this material down," she said. With pressure mounting, Musk's xAI, which operates Grok and owns X, appeared to be imposing some restrictions on Grok's public image generation. Public requests from X users to digitally strip women down to bikinis were met with a message saying image editing functionality was "currently limited to paying subscribers." X users were still able to create sexualized images using the Grok tab and then post the images to X. The standalone Grok app, which operates separately from X, was also still allowing users to generate images without a subscription. Reuters could not establish the extent to which the changes had curbed generation of non-consensual imagery, if at all. Wyden said that the tweaks did not dampen his concern. "All X's changes do is make some of its users pay for the privilege of producing horrific images on the X app, while Musk profits from the abuse of children," he wrote in an email.