'We're not going to back down': UK hits back at Trump admin over Elon Musk probe
Ewan Gleadow
January 14, 2026
RAW STORY
Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
The UK government has hit back at a US administration official's threat over a probe into Elon Musk and X.
Online safety watchdog OFCOM is investigating the social media app for the sharing of non-consensual sex images which are artificially generated through the Grok tool, Sky News reported. Concerns over the deepfakes spread on the platform have since been aired in the UK's House of Commons, the elected house of representatives.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said, "I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law. If so, that is welcome, but we're not going to back down, and they must act."
"We will take the necessary measures. We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further, and Ofcom will continue its independent investigation."
Donald Trump's administration representative, Sarah B. Rogers, weighed in on the investigation into X yesterday (January 13).
Rogers, an under secretary of state for public diplomacy, says the department will wait for the verdict of OFCOM on Musk's platform before it responds.
Rogers, speaking to GB News, said, "I would say from America's perspective... nothing is off the table when it comes to free speech. Let's wait and see what OFCOM does and we'll see what America does in response. This is an issue dear to us, and I think we would certainly want to respond."
"Our leadership understands this because President Trump was himself a target of censorship," Rogers said. "President Trump was banned by Twitter - the old regime before Elon bought it."
"You have to take that comparison seriously. That's why our President cares about this issue - because people couldn't deal with his popularity, they couldn't deal with his success, and they tried to just shut him up so no one could hear him."
OFCOM's powers fall under the Online Safety Act, which states that online platforms have to make sure they're not hosting illegal content.
If X is found to not comply with the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can issue a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or £18m, and if that is not enough, can go as far as getting a court approval to block the site.
Ewan Gleadow
January 14, 2026
RAW STORY
Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
The UK government has hit back at a US administration official's threat over a probe into Elon Musk and X.
Online safety watchdog OFCOM is investigating the social media app for the sharing of non-consensual sex images which are artificially generated through the Grok tool, Sky News reported. Concerns over the deepfakes spread on the platform have since been aired in the UK's House of Commons, the elected house of representatives.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said, "I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law. If so, that is welcome, but we're not going to back down, and they must act."
"We will take the necessary measures. We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further, and Ofcom will continue its independent investigation."
Donald Trump's administration representative, Sarah B. Rogers, weighed in on the investigation into X yesterday (January 13).
Rogers, an under secretary of state for public diplomacy, says the department will wait for the verdict of OFCOM on Musk's platform before it responds.
Rogers, speaking to GB News, said, "I would say from America's perspective... nothing is off the table when it comes to free speech. Let's wait and see what OFCOM does and we'll see what America does in response. This is an issue dear to us, and I think we would certainly want to respond."
"Our leadership understands this because President Trump was himself a target of censorship," Rogers said. "President Trump was banned by Twitter - the old regime before Elon bought it."
"You have to take that comparison seriously. That's why our President cares about this issue - because people couldn't deal with his popularity, they couldn't deal with his success, and they tried to just shut him up so no one could hear him."
OFCOM's powers fall under the Online Safety Act, which states that online platforms have to make sure they're not hosting illegal content.
If X is found to not comply with the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can issue a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or £18m, and if that is not enough, can go as far as getting a court approval to block the site.
Ewan Gleadow
January 13, 2026
RAW STORY
The Department of State has warned "nothing is off the table" should the UK move to ban Elon Musk's social media platform, X.
Donald Trump's administration representative, Sarah B. Rogers, weighed in on the investigation into X. Rogers, an under secretary of state for public diplomacy, says the department will wait for the verdict of OFCOM on Musk's platform before it responds. OFCOM, the UK's online safety and communications watchdog, is investigating X over concerns about AI-generated deepfakes spread on the platform.
Rogers, speaking to GB News, said, "I would say from America's perspective... nothing is off the table when it comes to free speech. Let's wait and see what OFCOM does and we'll see what America does in response. This is an issue dear to us, and I think we would certainly want to respond."
The Department of State representative said there was an increased interest from Trump and the administration in the investigation because the President and Vice President, JD Vance, are "huge champions" of free speech.
"Our leadership understands this because President Trump was himself a target of censorship," Rogers said. "President Trump was banned by Twitter - the old regime before Elon bought it."
"You have to take that comparison seriously. That's why our President cares about this issue - because people couldn't deal with his popularity, they couldn't deal with his success, and they tried to just shut him up so no one could hear him."
The Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, says the government will act fast should X fail the OFCOM investigation. He said, "If X cannot control Grok, we will - and we'll do it fast, because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self regulate."
Despite Rogers' claims for protecting free speech, it appears Vice President JD Vance is on the side of regulating the social media app's AI tool. According to Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, both he and Vance are in agreement on what needs to happen with Grok's AI-generated images.
Lammy told The Guardian last week, "We discussed Greenland and I also raised with him the Grok issue and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent. He agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable."
"I think he recognised the very seriousness with which images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he recognised how despicable, unacceptable, that is and I found him sympathetic to that position. And in fact, we’ve been in touch again, today, about this very serious issue."
Keir Starmer slams Nigel Farage for defending Elon Musk over Grok creating sexualised images of women and children
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has slammed Nigel Farage for defending Elon Musk after a backlash occurred against the tech billionaire’s chatbot Grok from governments around the world after a recent surge in sexualized images of women and children generated without consent by the artificial intelligence-powered tool.
It comes after Starmer last week said that he had asked media regulator Ofcom for “all options to be on the table” after it emerged that child sexual abuse images had been generated using X’s AI chatbot, Grok, as X users continue to generate thousands of pictures of women and children undressed using Grok’s AI, including in sexualised poses and in bikinis.
Addressing concerns over sexualised images of adults and children being produced by Grok, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is disgraceful. It’s disgusting. And it’s not to be tolerated… Ofcom has our full support to take action in relation to this.”
During today’s PMQs Starmer said that it was astonishing that Nigel Farage is defending Elon Musk over Grok’s images.
He said: “It is astonishing that Reform defend Musk on this issue, I said the images are disgusting their position is disgusting on this. This is weaponising images of women and children that should never be made and that’s why we’re acting. Reform refuse to do anything about it, but more than that they would scrap the Online Safety Act that stops children accessing content like pornography, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
“They’re an absolute disgrace.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
Today
Left Foot Forward
'This is weaponising images of women and children that should never be made and that’s why we’re acting.'
Left Foot Forward
'This is weaponising images of women and children that should never be made and that’s why we’re acting.'
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has slammed Nigel Farage for defending Elon Musk after a backlash occurred against the tech billionaire’s chatbot Grok from governments around the world after a recent surge in sexualized images of women and children generated without consent by the artificial intelligence-powered tool.
It comes after Starmer last week said that he had asked media regulator Ofcom for “all options to be on the table” after it emerged that child sexual abuse images had been generated using X’s AI chatbot, Grok, as X users continue to generate thousands of pictures of women and children undressed using Grok’s AI, including in sexualised poses and in bikinis.
Addressing concerns over sexualised images of adults and children being produced by Grok, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is disgraceful. It’s disgusting. And it’s not to be tolerated… Ofcom has our full support to take action in relation to this.”
During today’s PMQs Starmer said that it was astonishing that Nigel Farage is defending Elon Musk over Grok’s images.
He said: “It is astonishing that Reform defend Musk on this issue, I said the images are disgusting their position is disgusting on this. This is weaponising images of women and children that should never be made and that’s why we’re acting. Reform refuse to do anything about it, but more than that they would scrap the Online Safety Act that stops children accessing content like pornography, suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
“They’re an absolute disgrace.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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