The European Commission announced earlier today that AI service Grok and X’s “recommender systems” are under investigation regarding possible transgressions under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The recommender system investigation has been underway since 2023, but the Commission said it would be extended.
X has been deemed a designated very large online platform (VLOP) under the DSA.
On December 5, 2025, the Commission fined X €120 million for breaching transparency rules under the DSA, the first-ever fine issued under the DSA.
Recently, Grok has been in the news for the potential to create images, at times deemed to be offensive, of non-consenting individuals.
Last week, it was reported that founder Elon Musk would stop Grok from creating revealing or sexualized images in jurisdictions where the creation was deemed to be illegal.
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, commented on the investigation:
“Sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation. With this investigation, we will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated rights of European citizens – including those of women and children – as collateral damage of its service.”
The Commission highlighted two issues under review regarding Grok:
- Diligently assess and mitigate systemic risks, including of the dissemination of illegal content, negative effects in relation to gender-based violence, and serious negative consequences to physical and mental well-being stemming from deployments of Grok’s functionalities into its platform.
- Conduct and transmit to the Commission an ad hoc risk assessment report for Grok’s functionalities in the X service with a critical impact on X’s risk profile prior to their deployment.
Some critics have argued that the DSA was created to target big tech firms, which are largely US-based.
Additionally, it has been noted that X and Grok are not the only platforms that enable altered images to be publicly shared.
YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook have all garnered scrutiny for enabling the dissemination of images some deem offensive.
For many years, graphic design software has enabled individuals to create deepfake images and videos, but the advent of public AI platforms has made these services available to a broader audience.
There has been chatter that the Commission is using the DSA to potentially squelch free speech, as Europe’s definition strays from the broader definition accepted in the US. Musk, a free speech absolutist, has described his acquisition of Twitter, now X, as saving free speech in a world growing less tolerant of heterodox opinions.