The European Commission has ordered Elon Musk's social media platform X to retain all documents and data relating to its AI chatbot Grok until the end of 2026.
The platform's chatbot has recently come under fire for producing sexual images of minors.
"The Commission has ordered X to retain all internal documents and data relating to Grok until the end of 2026," a Commission spokesperson announced on Thursday. No investigation has been opened yet.
Such a retention order is a preventive measure to ensure that the Commission has access to the documents if necessary. Grok has been under fire since it became known that X's chatbot produces erotic deepfakes based on photographs, including those of minors.
The French Public Prosecutor's Office decided to open an investigation, and the Commission is also taking the matter seriously. "This is illegal and unacceptable. It goes against our values and fundamental rights," the spokesperson said.
€120 million
The Commission has had Grok in its sights for some time. In November, the Commission asked X for an explanation about anti-Semitic content generated by the chatbot. It is currently studying the responses provided by the company in December.
In December, the Commission also handed X a €120 million fine for violations of the transparency obligations that large online platforms must respect. It was the first time the Commission had imposed a sanction under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which drew fierce criticism from the US government.
As part of that investigation, the Commission is still assessing whether X is doing enough to combat the spread of illegal content and disinformation.
Last year, the Commission also ordered X to keep all documents relating to algorithms and recommendation systems.
