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President Donald Trump's free speech tsar has compared the United Kingdom's threat to block X to Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The UK's Office of Communication is carrying out what it has called an 'expedited assessment' of X and xAI's response to its chatbot Grok's manipulation of images to create undressed individuals and sexualized images of children.
Liz Kendall, the UK technology secretary, has said ministers would stand by the regulator if it decides to block access to the social media platform, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he was leaving 'all options' on the table.
But owner Elon Musk has since accused the UK of becoming 'fascist,' and now Sarah Rogers, the US state department's undersecretary for public diplomacy, compared the UK government to that of Russia.
She wrote on the platform that Great Britain was 'contemplating a Russia-style X ban to protect them from bikini images as she criticized the country for failing to ban marriages between cousins - which she suggested was linked to 'honor' killings.
'Since we know the British government wants to make sure women are safe both online and offline (thus contemplating a Russia-style X ban, to protect them from bikini images) here's more from Wikipedia on cousin marriage - and its connection to honor killing,' Rogers posted on Sunday.
'A sardonic reader might wonder whether Ofcom's response to such affronts would be "ban Wikipedia,"' she continued.
'You don't need to wonder! All wikis face an uncertain future in Britain if they allow anonymous editing.'
Sarah Rogers, the US state department's undersecretary for public diplomacy, has hit out at the UK government's threat to block X
She compared the move to one that Russian President Vladimir Putin would take
She also criticized the country for failing to ban marriages between cousins - which she suggested was linked to 'honor' killings
But Rogers is not the only Trump ally who has spoken out against the potential ban, with one-time First Buddy Elon Musk reposting an image of Starmer in a bikini with the caption: 'They just want to suppress free speech.'
Musk also responded to a chart showing arrest figures for online posts with the UK at the top, with the tech tycoon asking: 'Why is the UK government so fascist?'
Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has also threatened to put forward legislation to sanction both Starmer and the UK if X was blocked in the country.
Yet Vice President JD Vance apparently agrees with the UK government that the sexualized images created by the chatbot are 'entirely unacceptable,' and has described the images being produced as 'hyper-ponographied slop,' according to Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.
He had met with the vice president last week, and told The Guardian that he raised the issue of Grok 'and the horrendous, horrific situation in which this new technology is allowing deepfakes and the manipulation of images of women and children, which is just absolutely abhorrent'.
'He agreed with me that it was entirely unacceptable,' Lammy said.
'I think he recognized the very seriousness with which images of women and children could be manipulated in this way, and he recognized how despicable, unacceptable, that is and I found him sympathetic to that position.'
It now seems that critics of the technology gained some support from the company, which has agreed to limit its image editing tool to paying users.
Elon Musk, the owner of the platform, has previously branded the UK government as 'fascist' for considering the ban
Musk previously served under US President Donald Trump
Starmer, though, argued that that is not enough.
'That move… that simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,' a spokesperson for the prime minister said.
'It's not a solution. In fact, it's insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence. What it does prove is that X can move swiftly when it wants to do so.'
The PM's spokesman added: 'You heard the Prime Minister yesterday. He was abundantly clear that X needs to act and needs to act now, it is time for X to grip this issue.
'If another media company had billboards in town centers showing unlawful images, it would act immediately to take them down or face public backlash.'
Starmer has previously called on X to 'get their act together' amid concerns about the AI creation of sexualized images of adults and children on the site.
'This is disgraceful. It's disgusting. And it's not to be tolerated,' the PM told Greatest Hits Radio.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmerhas said he was leaving 'all options' on the table
The country's Office of Communication is carrying out what it has called an 'expedited assessment' of X and xAI's response to its chatbot Grok's manipulation of images to create undressed individuals and sexualized images of children
'X has got to get a grip of this. Ofcom has our full support to take action in relation to this. This is wrong.
'It's unlawful. We're not going to tolerate it. I've asked for all options to be on the table.
'It's disgusting. X need to get their act together and get this material down. We will take action on this because it's simply not tolerable.'
Ofcom has powers under the Online Safety Act to fine businesses up to £18 million or 10 percent of global revenue, as well as to take criminal action.
It can also order payment providers, advertisers and internet service providers to stop working with a site, effectively banning them, though this would require agreement from the courts.
Kendall has also pointed out that the Crime and Policing Bill making its way through Parliament would ban nudification apps, and said powers to criminalize the creation of intimate images without consent would go into effect in the coming weeks.
She wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that ministers were 'drawing an unbreakable line in the sand' against tech companies that profit from abuse.
'Innovation must serve humanity, not degrade it,' she wrote.
'If companies choose greed over responsibility they will face the full force of the law,' Kendall warned.
xAI has agreed to limit its image editing tool to Grok's paying users
Meanwhile, Indonesia and Malaysia have already blocked Grok over the images, though both governments said their ban was temporary as discussions with the company continue.
'The government views the practice of non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the security of citizens in the digital space,' Meutya Hafid, Indonesia's digital minister, said in a statement after the bot was banned on Saturday, according to The Sunday Times.
'To protect women, children and the wider public from the risks of AI-generated pornographic content, the government has taken firm action by temporarily hating access to Grok.'
The Malaysian government then followed suit on Sunday, after the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission failed to receive a satisfactory response to formal requests for new safeguards.
'MCMC had issued notices... demanding, amongst others, the implementation of effective technical and moderation safeguards to prevent AI-generated content that may contravene Malaysian law,' the commission said.
'However, the responses submitted on Jan. 7 and 9 by X relied primarily on user-initiated reporting mechanisms and failed to address the inherent risks posed by the design and operation of the AI.'
Both Indonesia and Malaysia are majority Muslim countries with laws governing public morality.
Under Indonesia's recently introduced new penal code, the production and distribution of pornographic material can be punished by 10 years in prison.