A gaggle of US Senators aren’t impressed by Elon Musk taking the smallest of corrective actions in transferring Grok’s means to make baby porn behind a paywall, and need X faraway from the App Retailer.
The flexibility for Grok to take a picture of an individual and generate a model of them undressed is abhorrent. However it’s additionally the tip of the iceberg, because the function has additionally been used to indicate ladies being abused and even killed.
After initially ignoring criticism and calling nonconsensual Grok-generated pictures “method funnier,” Elon Musk has now eliminated the function from public use. Moderately than ending the difficulty, although, Musk is making an attempt to revenue from it by making it’s a premium function.
US Senators Ron Wyden, Edward J. Markey, and Ben Ray Lujan determine that if you cannot cease Musk on the supply, you may minimize off his water provide. They’ve collectively written to each Apple’s Tim Cook dinner and Google’s Sundar Pichai, asking the X be faraway from their respective app shops.
“We write to ask that you simply implement your app shops’ phrases of service,” they write within the full letter. They word that Grok has been used to switch pictures “to depict ladies being sexually abused, humiliated, harm, and even killed.”
The senators additionally say that researchers have discovered a Grok archive [of] almost 100 pictures of potential baby sexual abuse supplies generated since August.
They argue that this all implies that it’s clear X and Grok are in violation of the app shops’ insurance policies. Within the case of Apple, they’re referring to the part within the App Retailer Evaluate Tips concerning objectionable content material.
These do particularly say apps should not permit offensive “or simply plain creepy” content material.
Consequently, the senators argue that there isn’t any escaping the truth that the Grok has breached the phrases of the App Retailer. So turning a blind eye to this, “would make a mockery of your moderation practices.”
The senators take a dig at each Apple and Google for the way they have been prepared to shortly take away the innocent ICEBlock app when pressured by the US authorities. They are saying they hope Apple and Google will reply with comparable pace now.
They’re asking Apple to take away the X and Grok apps, not less than briefly. And so they need a written response from the businesses inside two weeks.
Neither Apple nor Google have but responded publicly.
US Senators
This isn’t the primary time that any of those three senators have pursued expertise points, both by way of payments or letters. In 2021, as an illustration, Senator Ben Ray Lujan, campaigned to make social media liable for spreading well being misinformation.
Going additional again, Senator Edward J Markey was one among two senators who wrote to Steve Jobs about Apple privateness in 2010.
However it’s maybe Senator Wyden who’s greatest recognized for writing open letters — and probably the simplest. In 2023, he wrote a seemingly nonsensical open letter to the Division of Justice, making the apparently absurd declare that governments have been spying on iPhone homeowners by use of push notifications.
Apple was anticipated to disclaim this, however as an alternative successfully mentioned thanks. It’s true, however Apple had been forbidden to disclose the actual fact till Wyden introduced it out into the open.
AI App Retailer risks
Individually, in December 2025, US attorneys common warned Apple and others that “delusional outputs” from AI apps could also be violating the legislation.