UK media watchdog warns X over illegal hate content despite moderation speed improvements

Britain’s media watchdog, Ofcom, has warned Elon Musk’s X that serious concerns persist regarding how effectively the platform removes illegal hate and terrorist content.

Ofcom said on Wednesday it remained concerned about X's handling of illegal hate and terrorism-related content despite improvements in response times, while disclosing new restrictions on the Grok AI chatbot.

X met targets agreed with the regulator for reviewing reports of suspect content more quickly, according to the company's first quarterly performance report submitted to Ofcom.

The regulator also said its investigation into X had moved into a new phase in which it would decide whether the platform had met its legal duties to protect people in Britain from illegal content.

Ofcom opened its investigation into X in January after reports that the Grok AI chatbot was being used to create and share sexualized images that could amount to illegal content, including deepfakes involving real people and children.

As reported by Reuters, investigative findings showed that Grok was still generating sexualised images of people when prompted, even where users explicitly said the subjects ⁠had not consented.

Ofcom said it found that some users who had not verified their age could still access pornographic content on X.

It said the company had since changed its systems to ensure such material was blocked consistently from under-18s and unverified users.

As a result, Ofcom said it would focus the remainder of its investigation on X's handling of illegal content and the platform's systems for reporting and ⁠dealing with complaints, while continuing to monitor its age-check measures.