EU Commission expands investigation against X and Grok
of Nils Ahrensmeier 
on January 26, 2026, 14:42 | Write a comment
New trouble for X: Since January 26, the EU Commission has been investigating whether the platform has sufficiently minimized the risks posed by Grok.. Furthermore, an ongoing procedure will be extended to the new Grok-based recommendation systems..
Focus on sexualized deepfakes and child protection
A key aspect of the investigation concerns the creation and distribution of manipulated, sexually explicit images. The commission explicitly mentions "deepfakes of women as well as depictions that could contain material about child sexual abuse." The US blog "engadget" had previously reportedGrok's image AI created 3.000.000 sexualized images within 11 days, including 11.000 of children.
Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), it is now being examined whether X has complied with its risk management obligations. X should have submitted a specific ad-hoc risk assessment report to the Commission before introducing the Grok functions, as the AI increases the risk.proThe service has been significantly altered. Investigators are also examining negative effects on the physical and mental well-being of users, as well as gender-based violence.
Expansion of ongoing proceedings and previous sentences
In parallel to the new investigation, the Commission has been conducting an investigation that has been ongoing since December 2023. ongoing proceedings The investigation against Twitter has been extended. This concerns whether the company has all systemic risks related to its recommendation systems under control. This now also includes the recently announced switch to a recommendation system largely based on Grok technology. The Commission is working closely with the Irish Digital Services Coordinator on this investigation. Twitter has its European headquarters in Ireland.
This is not the first confrontation between Brussels and Elon Musk's company. Just on December 5, 2025, the EU imposed a A fine of 120 million euros was imposed on X. The reason given was violations of transparency rules in advertising and insufficient data access for researchers. Should the new allegations concerning Grok be confirmed, X faces further severe sanctions.
The European Commission also reserves the right to impose interim measures if X does not make significant adjustments to its service to ensure user safety. Although X states that it has already taken technical steps to block certain image generation, the EU still sees an urgent need for action, as such content should have no place on the European market.