Last Saturday (January 18th) saw a protest outside Dublin’s X Headquarters, related to the platform’s AI app Grok, led by People Before Profit. Recently, scandals involving the app producing nude pictures have surfaced all around the world. Situations involving “criminal imagery” of underage girls are especially severe. A former content moderator of Twitter, now X, addressed “a drastic shrinking of moderation teams and loosening of safety policies” stating: “we are witnessing the deliberate release of AI features that undermine this principle of safety”.
There is a wider debate about the responsibility in such situations – the social media platform is claiming that it lies with the users of tools like Grok, rather than the people behind the technology itself. Richard Boyd Barrett, a People Before Profit TD for Dún Laoghaire, called for the gardaí to investigate X, stating that platforms which allow such tools “should now be criminally responsible for what they have already done.”
Following a meeting with the company (X) on Friday, Ireland’s Minister of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Niamh Smyth, who also holds the responsibility for artificial intelligence (AI), said X had conceded it hosted content that is illegal in Ireland. The company has also stated that it has halted Grok’s ability to remove or reduce clothing on individuals, however it refused to take responsibility for the content created by the app.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin stated the situation was “very grave and very serious”. Some parties called for a ban on Grok, which has already been implemented in certain countries. However, while the European Commission described the content created by Grok as “appalling” and “disgusting” it stopped short of launching an investigation or implementing a ban.
While over 200 investigations are already underway, Mr Boyd Barett has said: “Micheál Martin accused me of Big Brother tactics, asking who did I want to turn the police on next. But of course, because of public outrage they have now changed their tune and they were forced to talk of legislation, of enforcement”. The aforementioned investigations could lead to prosecutions under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, the Criminal Justice Act 1994, and the Child Trafficking and Pornography 1998.
Mick Moran, a retired garda, who used to focus on investigating child sexual abuse material (CSAM), said there are 20,000 to 30,000 reports of CSAM made every year from platforms like X. He also added that apps like Grok “bring it into sharp focus”, that “AI is moving towards changing how we do business”, demanding new legislation and action to address the changing digital landscape.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Center has also called for “tougher action on X” stating that “It is not enough that X is restricting access to its Grok Ai image editing tool when so many people have been affected by its enabling of image-based abuse to date and while it continues to be available online in other jurisdictions.” Their Chief Executive, Rachel Morrogh, further commented on the ongoing investigations, stating that “it is notable that so far there have been no consequences imposed by Government or the regulator on the platform, despite laws being broken and the headquarters being located less than 500m from Government buildings.”
The Dublin City Council is to pause posting on X, pending the outcome of an internal review into its use of the controversial social media platform. Cllr Feljin Josse, one of the supporters of the Green Party’s proposal to consider a halt to posts and advertising on X, has said that “Dublin City Council, as the State’s largest local authority, has an obligation and duty of care to its citizens. Continuing to publish on a platform that is actively causing harm to individuals, especially children, would be against the council’s core principles.”
Although the protest itself was relatively small, with reports of around 20 people attending, the situation remains dynamic, and further action is likely to follow. The issue of legislating tools such as Grok is a complex one, combining Irish and European Law, as well as an ongoing discussion with the company behind the app, the social media platform X, based in the USA.
