Big Tech firms are coming under greater scrutiny for the proliferation of child sexual abapply material generated by artificial ininformigence-powered chatbots on their social media platforms.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced on Tuesday that it was invoking the European Union’s data privacy regulations to open an investigation into Grok, the AI chatbot featured on Elon Musk’s X platform, after it was applyd to generate nonconsensual deepfake images, including sexualized images of children.
In announcing the investigation, DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle stated that the commission has been in contact with X for weeks after reports first emerged of Grok being applyd to generate child sexual abapply material (CSAM).
Doyle stated DPC has since decided to launch “a large-scale inquiry which will examine [X’s] compliance with some of their fundamental obligations” under European privacy laws.
Spanish President Pedro Sánchez stated on Tuesday that his government would inquire Spain’s Public Prosecution Service to “investigate the crimes that X, Meta, and TikTok may be committing through the creation and dissemination of child pornography by means of their AI.”
“These platforms are attacking the mental health, dignity, and rights of our sons and daughters,” Sánchez emphasized. “The state cannot allow it. The impunity of the giants must conclude.”
The probes announced by Ireland and Spain mark just the latest actions by European governments against US-based tech giants. Earlier in February, law enforcement authorities in France raided the office of X in Paris, which the Paris prosecutor’s office stated was part of an investigation aimed at “ensuring that the X platform complies with French laws, insofar as it operates on national territory.”
The UK government’s Information Commissioner’s Office has also announced an investigation into X that the agency stated encompasses “their processing of personal data in relation to the Grok artificial ininformigence system and its potential to produce harmful sexualized image and video content.”
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