Elon Musk’s Grok changes don’t go far enough – we need to ban X

‘We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing.’

So read an update on X after the backlash that users were using it to strip people of their clothes.

At first, this may seem like the problem is fixed – that people are no longer able to undress whoever they want without their consent.

That’s certainly how the government felt – telling the BBC that this move was a ‘vindication’ of their call to action. 

But this isn’t the end – it’s not close to over. Don’t let this statement fool you.

Reading further, X states that they 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’.

This needs to be clarified, because it implies that only the countries who have made AI imagery illegal will be blocked.

It seems to me they have made little to no change here, and this statement appears to be hiding the fact that X refuses to do enough to stop creeps from sexualising women and children.

I’m speaking from experience of being targeted online this way. 

After I found my photos taken from Instagram and uploaded on a porn site in 2021, with comments such as ‘I would love to r*** that p***’ underneath them, I realised how important it was to protect women and children.

I had become sexualised without my knowledge or consent – I felt horrified and disgusted.

I felt that same sense of horror when I found out that Grok’s AI image generator was stripping women, men and children of their clothes for the pleasure of sick, twisted people. 

I’m glad I left that horror of a site in April last year – by then, it was a cesspool of racism, far-right misinformation and the kind of bad AI and offensive caption combination that you might normally see forwarded from a dodgy uncle. 

If I was still on X, it would have just been another place for people to misuse my images and sexualise me, but this time these perverts would have the ability to strip me.

I urge anyone still on the site to join me in quitting, and I urge the government to really consider the nuclear option of banning X in the UK. 

It’s getting so bad over at Xai that Grok has officially been banned in Malaysia and Indonesia, with an investigation being announced by the media regulator OFCOM into the safety concerns posed by X.

Multiple people, especially women, have reported that X users have sexualised them using Grok – and the most agonising part is seeing it happen in real time. The way these users create these images is by replying to your original post and @’ing Grok – so their prompt and your sexualised image ends up in your timeline.

You have to watch while someone takes off your clothes – and for many of these sick individuals, that’s clearly part of the thrill. 

I can’t imagine something so violating, and I’ve found myself not just on porn sites, but also on websites like 4chan. 

After I was first told about my photos on that initial site, I immediately messaged the customer service team, with a link to the user profile, all his galleries and any others I could find. 

They apologised and immediately removed the content and that particular user.

But I couldn’t help thinking about all the other users, galleries, images, comments. That user could just create a new profile. Part of me knew that there were still photos of me somewhere online, and someone was violating me.

Despite having quit X, I still went on the site via a friend’s account and searched my name last week, out of fear that someone had done it to me, had given me the ‘Grok’ treatment. Part of me didn’t want to know, and part of me did, so I can report it to the police – X themselves would have done nothing.

Luckily, I found nothing attached to my name, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. There are people out there, pleasuring themselves over non-consensual sexualised images of women, who watch it happen.

But it’s not just women and sometimes men who are experiencing this – what’s really sickening is Grok is undressing children for users who are creating these prompts.

Elon Musk has done little to stop it. In fact, his initial response was that banning Grok or X was ‘censorship’ and that it suppresses ‘free speech’. He said all this while posting an AI image of Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a bikini.

And now this non-statement by X is just mouldy icing on a rotting cake.

I am relieved I saw the sickness of X earlier and managed to escape it before it violated me. 

There was little of value left there – although it was a place I formed many friendships, back when it was called Twitter. I got freelance work, writing gigs and opportunities I wouldn’t have found elsewhere. 

But now, Twitter, X, Grok – it must be shot into the sun, bursting into flames like one of Musk’s misfiring rockets.

We should not be trying to save a platform that is owned by a mewling manchild who doesn’t understand the importance of reporting and banning illegal pedophilic or sexualised material, just so he can continue to be famous.

I escaped Grok, but millions of people are still at risk – because they are not making any meaningful change.

The site is beyond reform, beyond redemption.

It’s time for an outright ban.

A version of this piece was originally published on January 13 2025

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