{"id":2570542,"date":"2026-02-17T08:32:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ireland-opens-its-own-investigation-into-musks-x\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T08:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T13:36:18","slug":"ireland-opens-its-own-investigation-into-musks-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ireland-opens-its-own-investigation-into-musks-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland opens its own investigation into Musk\u2019s X"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fireland-opens-its-own-investigation-into-musks-x%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2570542&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission has opened a formal inquiry into Elon Musk\u2019s X and its Grok AI tool over the alleged creation of sexualized images, including those of children. The probe targets X Internet Unlimited Company, the Dublin-based entity that manages X\u2019s operations in the EU, and centers on whether grok could be used to generate potentially harmful, non<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/over-700-survivors-advocates-call-on-congress-for-criminal-investigation-into-pornhubs-parent-company\/\" title=\"Over 700 Survivors, Advocates Call On Congress For Criminal Investigation Into Pornhub...s Parent Company\">-consensual intimate images<\/a> of real people. Regulators will assess compliance with the EU\u2019s GDPR,including lawful data processing,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-push-to-rein-in-big-tech-as-federal-gears-grind-slow\/\" title=\"States Push to Rein in Big Tech as Federal Gears Grind Slow\">data protection<\/a> by design,and data protection impact assessments. The case comes amid broad European scrutiny of Grok, with investigations and inquiries spreading across France, the United Kingdom (ICO), Spain, and the European Union\u2019s Digital Services Act framework, highlighting growing concerns about AI-generated content and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idaho-governor-signs-bill-banning-abortions-after-fetal-heartbeat-can-be-detected\/\" title=\"Idaho Governor Signs Bill Banning Abortions After Fetal Heartbeat Can Be Detected\">child protection<\/a>. Potential penalties under GDPR can reach up to 4% of global revenue if violations are found.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Ireland opens its own investigation into Musk&rsquo;s X over sexualized images of children made by Grok<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2504726\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Ireland&rsquo;s Data Protection Commission opened an investigation Tuesday into <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\">Elon Musk<\/a>&lsquo;s X and its <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\/\">artificial intelligence<\/a> tool Grok for producing sexualized images, including images of children.<\/p>\n<p>The inquiry, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/dataprotection.ie\/en\/news-media\/press-releases\/data-protection-commission-opens-investigation-x-xiuc\">announced by Ireland&rsquo;s privacy watchdog<\/a> under section 110 of the Data Protection Act of 2018, targets X Internet Unlimited Company, the Dublin-based entity that manages X&rsquo;s operations in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/european-union\/\">European Union<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4459752\/aoc-claims-venezuela-is-below-the-equator-in-munich-flub\/\">AOC claims Venezuela is &lsquo;below the equator&rsquo; in Munich flub<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4459292\/russia-denies-european-allegation-kremlin-poisoned-alexei-navalny\/\">Russia denies European allegation that Kremlin poisoned opposition leader<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4458945\/ukraine-charges-german-galushchenko-wide-ranging-corruption-case\/\">Ukraine charges former energy minister in connection to wide-ranging corruption case<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The investigation centers on reports that users were able to prompt Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Musk and embedded into X, to create &ldquo;potentially harmful, non-consensual intimate and\/or sexualised images&rdquo; of real people, including EU residents and children.<\/p>\n<p>DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said the agency had been in dialogue with XUIC since media reports first surfaced weeks ago and that the inquiry &ldquo;will examine XIUC&rsquo;s compliance with some of their fundamental obligations under the GDPR in relation to the matters at hand.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>During the investigation, regulators said they will examine whether the company complied with the EU&rsquo;s General Data Protection Regulation, a stringent privacy regime that allows fines of up to 4% of global revenue for violations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The investigation will assess whether the processing of personal data tied to these <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >outputs met legal requirements<\/a>, such as lawful handling, data protection by design, and data protection impact assessments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ireland&rsquo;s action reflects mounting pressure on X and its AI tools across Europe, where multiple regulators have zeroed in on Grok&rsquo;s behavior in recent months. Other popular AI tools produce similar content but have not received the same scrutiny or notoriety.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">Authorities in&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/france\/\">France<\/a>&nbsp;also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-ftc-nominees-have-history-of-big-tech-scrutiny\/\" title=\"GOP FTC nominees have scrutinized Big Tech in the past.\">pursued legal actions<\/a> as prosecutors and cybercrime units searched X&rsquo;s Paris offices in early February,<\/span> as the dissemination of explicit imagery and other illegal content expanded their scrutiny from algorithmic practices to questions around child protection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/op-eds\/4451681\/european-union-elon-musk-shakedown\/\">Spanish government has also asked prosecutors<\/a> to investigate X, along with Meta and TikTok, over allegations that platforms are spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and is proposing stricter protections for minors online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/ico.org.uk\/about-the-ico\/media-centre\/news-and-blogs\/2026\/02\/ico-announces-investigation-into-grok\/\">United Kingdom&rsquo;s Information Commissioner&rsquo;s Office<\/a> opened a separate inquiry in early February into whether X and its AI units complied with U.K. data protection law in the development of Grok, particularly regarding safeguards against generating harmful sexualized imagery. The ICO said it was coordinating with Ofcom and international partners.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/op-eds\/4451681\/european-union-elon-musk-shakedown\/\"><strong>THE EU&rsquo;S ELON MUSK SHAKEDOWN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In late January, the European Commission, the EU&rsquo;s executive arm, also <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4433164\/eu-investigation-elon-musk-grok-sexualized-deepfakes\/\">launched its own investigation <\/a>into whether X properly assessed and mitigated risks posed by Grok under the bloc&rsquo;s Digital Services Act.<\/p>\n<p>The DSA is a sweeping digital rulebook aimed at curbing illegal content and protecting user rights online.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ireland probes X\/Grok over sexualized child images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4130,"featured_media":2570543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26022572302228.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3976,53616,4250,56694],"class_list":["post-2570542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-investigation","tag-ireland-2","tag-musk","tag-x-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26022572302228.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2570542"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2570547,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570542\/revisions\/2570547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2570543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2570542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2570542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2570542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}