UK threatens action against X over sexualised AI images of women and children
Elon Musk’s X “is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online”, a minister has said, as the UK government prepares to outline possible action against the platform over the mass production of sexualised images of woman and children.Peter Kyle, the business secretary, said the government would fully support any action taken by Ofcom, the media regulator, against X – including the possibility that the platform could be blocked in the UK.Kyle said Ofcom had received information it had requested from X as part of a fast-tracked investigation into the use of platform’s built-in AI tool, Grok, to generate large numbers of manipulated images of people, often depicting them in minimal clothing or sexualised poses.The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, who said on Friday that she expected action from Ofcom within days, is due to give a statement to the Commons on Monday afternoon.Kyle told Sky News: “Let me be really clear about X: X is not doing enough to keep its customers safe online.
”In a later interview on BBC One’s Breakfast programme, Kyle said it was “appalling” that X had not tested Grok properly, given its capacity to manipulate images and its potential impact on women.“The fact that I met just yesterday a Jewish woman who has found her image of herself in a bikini outside Auschwitz being generated by AI and put online made me feel sick to my stomach,” he said.“And the fact that there are people who are running and designing these materials, putting it out on to the internet without checking the impact it would have on their customers and their service users and to society as a whole, I think is a real worry.”After Ofcom requested information from X, the company provided it and the regulator was conducting what Kyle described as “an expedited inquiry”.He said: “They have a range of powers that goes from heavy, heavy fines all the way through to banning X from our country, if deemed appropriate.
And, of course, this government and Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, stands [fully] behind Ofcom in their ability to do this,”Any move to block X, which would require a court order, would be likely to provoke a significant response from Musk and Donald Trump’s administration,Musk, who frequently posts far-right and ethno-nationalist content, has previously urged Britons to “fight back” against Keir Starmer’s government, which he portrays as hostile to free speech,On Sunday, a Trump administration official focused on free speech, likened the possible UK action against X to censorship in Vladimir Putin’s Russia,In one of several posts on the issue, Sarah Rogers, the US undersecretary for public diplomacy, said the UK government was “contemplating a Russia-style @X ban”.
Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can compel platforms to address such material and issue multimillion-pound fines for lack of compliance, with the ultimate sanction being a court order requiring internet providers to block a site or app entirely,On Friday, X announced that the ability to generate and edit images would be “limited to paying subscribers”,Downing Street described the move as unacceptable, saying it simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service”,
Senior Labour MPs urge government to ban cryptocurrency political donations
Downing Street has been urged to ban political donations in cryptocurrency by seven senior Labour MPs who chair parliamentary committees.The committee chairs – Liam Byrne, Emily Thornberry, Tan Dhesi, Florence Eshalomi, Andy Slaughter, Chi Onwurah and Matt Western – called on the government to introduce a full ban in the forthcoming elections bill amid concern that cryptocurrency could be used by foreign states to influence politics.Government sources told the Guardian last year that ministers are looking at ways to ban political donations made with cryptocurrency but the crackdown is not likely to be ready for the elections bill due early this year.Byrne said the committee chairs are concerned political finance “must be transparent, traceable and enforceable” but crypto donations undermine all three.“Crypto can obscure the true source of funds, enable thousands of micro donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to foreign interference,” he said
Mandelson praises Trump’s ‘graciousness’ and declines to apologise for friendship with Jeffrey Epstein – as it happened
Laura Kuenssberg asks Peter Mandelson if he liked Donald Trump when he was the UK ambassador to Washington.Mandelson says he did like Trump, listing off numerous reasons why, but said he did not like all of his “language”.I like him, yes, I liked his humour, his graciousness…I liked his directness. You knew exactly what he was thinking and where you stood and what he wanted. And how he was proposing to engage, with you
UK wants any transition of power in Iran to be peaceful, says minister
The UK wants any transition of power in Iran to be peaceful, a cabinet minister has said, after Donald Trump said he could support protesters with military force.As the US weighs the option of military strikes, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said she would not be drawn on America’s foreign policy towards Iran, where protests have been met with a violent police response.She told Sky News Iran was a hostile state that posed a security threat in the Middle East and repressed its own people, adding: “The priority, as of today, is to try and stem the violence that is happening in Iran at the moment.”Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, went further in saying she would “not have an issue” with seeing the Iranian regime removed and that it could be right for the US and its allies to be involved in that process.She told the BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “Iran would very happily wipe out the UK if it felt it could get away with it
Sir Patrick Duffy obituary
The former Labour minister Sir Patrick Duffy, who has died aged 105, was one of his party’s foremost experts on defence and disarmament during the cold war and its immediate aftermath. It was his misfortune that 19 years of his quarter of a century as a Labour MP were spent on the opposition benches, although he had the gratification of 13 years as a member of the Nato parliamentary assembly, of which he served as president for two years from 1988.Duffy first stood for parliament in Tiverton, Devon, in 1950, and was successfully elected as an MP on his fourth attempt at a byelection in the Colne Valley, West Yorkshire, in 1963.He was an economist by training and entered the House of Commons in midlife, after an eventful career during the second world war in the Royal Navy and subsequently as an academic in Britain and the US. His experience made him an Atlanticist and a fervent European for most of his life, although in 2016 he supported Brexit on the grounds that the eurozone had made the EU no longer practical
Zarah Sultana’s Your Party membership launch may be ‘criminal’ matter for police, ICO says
Zarah Sultana’s unauthorised launch of a Your Party membership portal may have been “serious criminal activity” and should be referred to the police, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has advised.Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project (PJP), which referred Your Party to the information watchdog last September over a potential data breach, has been advised by the ICO that it should consider “taking further action” regarding the matter, after deciding it was not a matter for them.An extraordinary split opened up between Corbyn and Sultana in September after an email was sent to 800,000 people on Your Party’s mailing list, urging them to become paying members for £55. Sultana revealed the new membership portal on X, urging supporters to “be a part of history”, and reassured her followers that the membership site was “safe and secure”, encouraging them to keep trying to sign up despite “issues due to such high traffic”.Later the same day, Corbyn issued an “urgent message” telling his followers on X to ignore the “unauthorised” site and said “legal advice is being taken”
Reform UK accused of betraying election pledges after council tax rises
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has been accused of betraying election promises to cut council tax after several councils it controls said they planned to increase rates close to the maximum allowed.They include Kent county council – the party’s flagship local authority and one viewed by it as the “shop window” for what a Reform-led government would look like – which has proposed an increase of 3.99%.Four other county councils controlled by the party – Derbyshire, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire and Leicestershire – have also all proposed 5% council tax rises, the maximum permitted by law.Derbyshire county council earlier this week confirmed the rise after predicting a £38m gap in its budget, with overspends in children’s social care and adult social care
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