German minister calls for EU legal steps over Grok images on Musk's X

By Andreas Rinke

BERLIN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - German media minister Wolfram Weimer urged the European Commission on Tuesday to take legal action to stop what he called the "industrialisation of sexual harassment" taking place on Elon Musk's social media platform X.

Weimer joins other European officials and bodies, including the European Union's executive body, in raising concerns about a surge in nonconsensual imagery on the platform.

The condemnation follows reporting, including from Reuters, that X's built-in artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, was unleashing on-demand images of women and minors in skimpy clothing - a functionality X has in the past referred to as "spicy mode".

"What we are currently observing on X looks like the industrialisation of sexual harassment," Weimer told Reuters.

"It is now crucial that the EU Commission continues to enforce this (legal framework) as rigorously as it has already begun."

In its last message to Reuters on the matter, X said: "Legacy Media Lies." Online, Musk has shrugged off the concerns over Grok's undressing spree, posting laughing-so-hard-I'm-crying emojis in response to public figures edited to look like they were in bikinis. 

CHALLENGE IS PRIMARILY ENFORCEMENT, MINISTRY SAYS

The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content, provides all the necessary tools to ensure consistent application of EU law, Weimer said.

Germany's digital ministry, which is responsible for DSA enforcement through the federal network regulator, said in a statement sent to Reuters that it was committed to DSA compliance and urged everyone to use its reporting rights.

"The challenge at present is primarily to enforce the various - in some cases new - rights more consistently and to actually make use of them," a ministry spokesperson said.

"Anyone who creates or distributes such images without consent is committing a serious violation of personal rights and may be liable to prosecution in many cases."

The European Commission said on Monday the images of undressed women and children being shared across X were unlawful and appalling. British regulator Ofcom demanded X explain how Grok was able to produce such images and asked whether it was failing in its legal duty to protect users.

X did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the European Commission's or Ofcom's statements.

Ministers in France have reported to prosecutors content generated by Grok on X, and Indian officials have demanded explanations from X over what they described as obscene content.

The U.S. federal government has yet to address the issue.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Madeline Chambers and Timothy Heritage)