Here's how the UK could actually ban Elon Musk's Grok and X – and what it would mean

Labour has floated the idea of banning X in the UK after its Grok AI tool was used to generate non-consensual pictures of women in bikinis and intimate images of children. As political pressure grows, Big Issue has examined if and how a ban would work, and whether the controversy may open the door for restricting the use of social media for under-16s.

On Monday (12 January) Ofcom announced an investigation into X which could result in fines, criminal prosecutions or an outright ban – and ministers say they will back the regulator’s preferred option.

It came after the government’s technology secretary Liz Kendall said the government was seriously looking at the option of a ban, with the new Online Safety Act a potential tool.

Yet even the idea of banning X has provoked fierce reaction. Elon Musk accused the UK’s government of wanting to “suppress free speech”, while former prime minister Liz Truss said: “Starmer is really losing it now.” Across the pond, one Republican congresswoman has said she will make a legal attempt to sanction Starmer and the UK in the event of a ban, while Donald Trump’s undersecretary for public diplomacy compared the mooted crackdown to Russia’s ban of the app.

In response, X has restricted features which can generate AI images to paid users – something the government says simply turns creating unlawful images into a “premium service”.

Labour MP Jess Asato said she wanted the government to hurry up with efforts to tackle the problem, after promising in December’s violence against women and girls strategy that it would ban “nudification” tools.

Asato told Big Issue: “I am now urging the government to accelerate the introduction of this legislation to ensure we protect women and girls from digital sexual assault.”

How would it all work? We’ve been speaking to experts to help you get across the details.

Read more:

• Grok is flooding X with sexualised images. But can the UK fight AI-generated abuse?
• Young people to be taught about consent amid warnings ‘we cannot police our way out of crisis’
• Elon Musk, this is how you could use your power for good

How would a UK ban on X even work?

“A ban would be practically very difficult, though X was recently banned in Brazil for spreading disinformation in the country,” professor Catherine Happer, an expert in AI and content moderation at the University of Glasgow, told Big Issue.

The Online Safety Act (OSA) puts the responsibility to address unlawful material onto social media platforms, and would be the vehicle for any ban, Happer added.

“The OSA covers material that is illegal and material that is harmful to children and, importantly, it applies to user-generated content such as these Grok-generated images on X,” professor Andrew Chadwick, from Loughborough University’s department of communication and media, told Big Issue.

“At the very least, under the OSA, X has a clear legal responsibility to act quickly to respond to user complaints and remove illegal content from its platform.”

While Musk says he will try to remove illegal content while restricting Grok, Chadwick believed that would be “extremely difficult” in practice.

He added: “It is fair to question whether it will be possible for X to comply with the OSA without removing the ‘nudify’ feature entirely from Grok’s AI model.”

Asato said a ban is a “a last resort for Ofcom, should those websites not uphold British law”.

If it were to happen, said Chadwick: “This would initially involve a series of notices and fines from Ofcom – but if those did not work it would ultimately be enacted through restriction on advertising, restrictions on payment processors, reducing app store availability, and potentially restricting access at the level of internet service providers.”

What would the UK banning X mean?

Amid talk of sanctions and a Russia-style crackdown on free speech, any ban would be a big deal.

With X’s popularity on the populist right, groups could work to spread the idea that a ban amounted to “politically motivated censorship”, said Happer.

She added: “These groups are globally interconnected, and are at the centre of president Trump’s media ecosystem. X is also a US company – as most of the big technology companies are – and Starmer’s government has taken a highly cautious approach to anything which may trigger a negative response from Trump.

“Starmer’s government is likely to be fairly toothless in any fight against Big Tech, and the UK is weakened further still by its retreat from Europe where media regulation can find a stronger base in any EU-wide approach. At the moment it’s a bit of a David and Goliath.”

Will this controversy open the door for an overall ban on social media for under-16s?

The controversy over Grok has come amid growing calls for an outright ban on social media for under-16s. The Conservatives have committed to this, while Andy Burnham and the teaching union NASUWT are also on board.

Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, told Big Issue it felt like the controversy could make an under-16 ban more likely. “Keir Starmer seems to have found his teeth with regard to Grok, so it feels like they’re shifting their perspective,” said Greenwell.

Asato said: “I have long-supported raising the online age of consent to 16, which is something I hope the government is looking closely at. Technology like AI nudification shows how important it is that children are prevented from accessing harmful digital content.”

But not everyone is convinced that banning under-16s from social media is the right move.

“We believe a blanket ban for under 16s would be a blunt approach to a complex problem,” said Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC.

“We know many children value their online experiences, and it is critical that we look to uphold these benefits whilst tackling the unacceptable harms.”

Happer said it may be more useful to see potential restrictions as more similar to the watershed than an outright ban. Happer added: “So far Starmer has rejected this idea, though other members of the cabinet are positive about this as a measure – but a set of global responses might change all that and allow Starmer to do something a little bit bolder than he’s used to.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life this winter.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and how we fund our work to end poverty.

You can also support online with a vendor support kit or a magazine subscription. Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.