Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot is under formal investigation by the European Commission over allegations that it disseminated illegal content, including sexualised images of women and minors, in the European Union.

The Commission, acting under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), said the probe will assess whether X properly evaluated and mitigated the risks associated with Grok’s functionalities across the bloc’s 27 member states. Companies that violate the DSA can face fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover.

“Non-consensual sexual deepfakes of women and children are a violent, unacceptable form of degradation,” EU technology chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement.

X previously announced on January 14 that xAI had restricted Grok’s image editing capabilities, blocking users in jurisdictions where generating sexualised images of people is illegal. However, as reported in Reuters, the EU said these measures did not fully resolve the systemic risks and that there was evidence X had not conducted an adequate assessment before rolling out Grok in Europe.

The investigation adds to scrutiny over Musk’s social media company, following a 150 million-euro fine in December for transparency violations and ongoing probes into X’s recommender systems. Regulators have warned that interim measures could be imposed if the platform fails to make meaningful adjustments.

“The investigation will determine whether X has met its legal obligations under the DSA, or whether it treated the rights of European citizens – including women and children – as collateral damage,” Virkkunen said.

Separately, the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, has opened its own investigation into whether X has complied with the country’s Online Safety Act, reflecting a growing global focus on AI and online content moderation.