New Delhi, Jan 26 (NationPress) The European Commission has officially initiated a formal inquiry against Elon Musk’s X under the Digital Services Act (DSA). This action is in response to the AI chatbot Grok producing sexualised deepfake images involving women and minors.

In conjunction with this, the Commission has broadened its ongoing investigation, which began in December 2023, to examine X's adherence to its recommender systems risk management responsibilities.

The new inquiry aims to evaluate whether the company adequately identified and addressed the risks linked to Grok's functionalities integrated into X within the EU.

This includes assessing risks associated with the spread of illegal content in the EU, particularly manipulated sexually explicit images, which may include content considered as child sexual abuse material.

“In Europe, we will not accept atrocious behavior such as the digital exploitation of women and children,” stated Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission chief.

Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, emphasized that sexual deepfakes targeting women and children are a violent and unacceptable form of degradation.

“Through this investigation, we aim to ascertain whether X has fulfilled its legal responsibilities under the DSA, or if it has neglected the rights of European citizens, including the rights of women and children, as collateral damage of its services,” Virkkunen noted.

Consequently, the Commission will further scrutinize X’s compliance with DSA obligations to thoroughly assess and mitigate systemic risks, including the spread of illegal content, negative impacts related to gender-based violence, and significant adverse effects on physical and mental well-being resulting from Grok's functionalities.

The Commission will also require an ad hoc risk assessment report concerning Grok's functionalities in the X service, particularly those with a critical impact on X's risk profile, before their deployment.

Separately, the Commission has extended its ongoing formal proceedings initiated against X in December 2023 to determine whether X has correctly evaluated and mitigated all systemic risks as outlined in the DSA, particularly concerning its transition to a Grok-based recommender system.

“If proven, these oversights would represent violations of Articles 34(1) and (2), 35(1), and 42(2) of the DSA. The Commission will now conduct an extensive investigation as a top priority. The commencement of formal proceedings does not imply any predetermined outcome,” the statement concluded.