Elon Musk's X is to undergo a large-scale probe from the European privacy watchdog following a multi-million dollar fine and office raid.
The X CEO had initially pushed back against the European Commission and its threat of investigation until a $139 million fine was issued to his company in December. An office raid earlier this month was conducted by the French authorities and the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol. The raid was part of an ongoing criminal probe into the potential “dissemination of child pornography."
The European Union’s data privacy watchdog has since confirmed an investigation into Elon Musk's X over sexualized images generated by Grok, the AI Chatbot featured on the social media site.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is chiefly responsible for enforcing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), issued a statement confirming the inquiry.
It read, "The inquiry concerns the apparent creation, and publication on the X platform, of potentially harmful, non-consensual intimate and/or sexualized images, containing or otherwise involving the processing of personal data of EU/EEA data subjects, including children, using generative artificial intelligence functionality associated with the Grok large language model within the X platform."
Graham Doyle, the DPC's deputy commissioner, said, "As the Lead Supervisory Authority for [X Internet Unlimited Company] across the EU/EEA, the DPC has commenced a large-scale inquiry which will examine XIUC’s compliance with some of their fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand.”
The European Commission’s Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty Henna Virkkunen had leveled fines at Musk's company in December last year, and said the fine is not about being a financial strain, but making sure the right course of action is taken by X.
Virkkunen said, "We’re not here to impose the highest fines, we’re here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced. If you comply with our rules, you don’t get a fine." They added the fine was "proportionate" to the value of the company, with DSA regulations meaning a maximum fine of 6% of a company's worth can be issued.
While the fine may not come as a surprise to X, Vice President JD Vance warned the EU Commission they should not be aiming for Musk's website, something the tech billionaire made clear he did not appreciate.
Vance wrote, "Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech, not attacking American companies over garbage." Musk replied, "Much appreciated."