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”.
Peter Mandelson apologises for Epstein association in sudden U-turn
Peter Mandelson has issued an apology for his association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – after declining to do so in an interview broadcast on Sunday.The Labour peer, who was sacked as US ambassador when details of his support for Epstein emerged in September, gave an interview to the BBC in which he suggested that as a gay man he knew nothing of the disgraced financier’s sex life.On Monday night, Lord Mandelson apologised “unequivocally” for associating with Epstein after his conviction.In a statement, he said: “At the weekend, I gave an interview to the BBC. In answering questions about my association with Jeffrey Epstein I did not want to be held responsible for his crimes of which I was ignorant, not indifferent, because of the lies he told me and so many others
Conservative defections risk making Reform UK into Tory party 2.0
In the death throes of Boris Johnson’s government in the summer of 2022, Nadhim Zahawi was appointed chancellor by an increasingly desperate prime minister determined to cling on to power.The vacancy arose after Rishi Sunak, who had led the Treasury for more than two years, quit saying he no longer had confidence in Johnson to lead the country, setting off – with others – a string of high-profile desertions.Just over a day later, as ministerial resignations gathered pace to exceed 50, even Zahawi saw the writing on the wall, and called on the prime minister to go. But he stopped short of resigning himself.His decision, which meant he stayed on at the Treasury for a further two months and was privately branded an opportunist by colleagues, showed just how flexible he was willing to be when it came to his own career
Law making creation of nonconsensual, intimate images illegal to come into force this week – as it happened
Kendall says the decision by X last week to restrict the Grok AI deepfake tool to subscribers does not go anywhere near far enough.She goes on:Under the Online Safety Act, sharing intimate images without someone’s consent, or threatening to share them, including images of people in their underwear, is a criminal offence for individuals and for platforms.My predecessor [Peter Kyle] rightly made this a priority offence, so services have to take proactive action to stop this content from appearing in the first place.The Data Act, passed last year, made it a criminal offence to create or request the creation of nonconsensual and intimate images.And today I can announce to the house that this offence will be brought into force this week, and that I will make it a priority offence in the Online Safety Act
Step forward, Nadhim Zahawi: the latest, highest-profile rat to flee the Tory ship | John Crace
Here’s a thought: try to name a former Conservative MP that Nigel Farage wouldn’t accept as a member of Reform. OK, he might draw the line at Liz Truss on the grounds she is a danger to everyone. Especially herself. And Boris Johnson might be a problem. Not just as a clash of competing egos but because the immigration Boriswave might be a hard sell to Nige’s core supporters
Energy and health optimism help lift civil service morale under Labour
Civil service morale rose slightly after Labour took power in 2024, with the biggest jumps in satisfaction in the energy and health departments, an annual Whitehall monitor report will show.The survey from the Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank, due to be published this week, found that morale rose from 60.7 to 61.2% on the civil service employee engagement index.This is a composite measure that captures civil servants’ feelings about how things are done in their organisation, and their pride in where they work
Peter Mandelson declines to apologise for association with Jeffrey Epstein
Peter Mandelson has declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for staying friends with the convicted child sex offender, and suggested that as a gay man he knew nothing of the financier’s sex life.The Labour peer, who was sacked as US ambassador when details of his support for Epstein emerged in September, gave an interview to the BBC on Sunday, saying he had paid a “calamitous” price for his association with the “evil monster”.Lord Mandelson’s association with Epstein had long been known when Keir Starmer appointed the peer as US ambassador. However, he was removed from his diplomatic post after No 10 said it had been unaware of emails from Mandelson to Epstein suggesting the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a child for prostitution was wrongful and should be challenged.Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 and served time in jail but Mandelson said he had believed his excuses and continued to support him out of “misplaced loyalty” and “a most terrible mistake on my part”
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