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US Senators call on Apple and Google to ban X and Grok from app stores amid
image-generation controversy

Date:
Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:17:08 +0000

Description:
US Senators have told Apple and Google to take action over Grok creating
explicit images of women and children.

FULL STORY

In recent weeks its emerged that Xs built-in artificial intelligence (AI)
chatbot Grok is being actively used to generate explicit images of children
and women without their consent, leading to calls for Apple and Google to
remove both the Grok and X apps from their respective app stores. 

Now, the pressure has been ramped up after a group of US Senators wrote a
letter to Apple and Google demanding that they take action  and today the 
UK's media watchdog Ofcom says it has launched an official investigation ,
too. 

The US letter was signed by Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan and Edward
Markey, and calls for the companies to enforce your app stores terms of
service, as Xs generation of these harmful and likely illegal depictions of
women and children has shown complete disregard for your stores distribution
terms. 

After detailing how Grok has been modifying images to depict women being
sexually abused, humiliated, hurt, and even killed and how Grok has 
reportedly created sexualized images of children, the Senators pointed out
that these actions violate the app store policies of both Apple and Google. 

Googles terms of service prohibit users from creating, uploading, or
distributing content that facilitates the exploitation or abuse of children,
the Senators say, including prohibiting the portrayal of children in a manner
that could result in the sexual exploitation of children. 

Apple, meanwhile, expressly bars Overtly sexual or pornographic material. The
Senators allege that Turning a blind eye to Xs egregious behavior would make 
a mockery of your moderation practices.

The pressure on X and Musk grows

The group of US senators also pointed to both Apple's and Googles recent
pushback against greater regulatory scrutiny of their app stores. 

Not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that 
your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download 
apps directly to their phones, the Senators wrote, adding that This principle
has been core to your advocacy against legislative reforms to increase app
store competition and your defenses to claims that your app stores abuse 
their market power through their payment systems. 

Apple and Google have proven that they can move quickly to ban apps, the
Senators note. Your companies quickly removed apps that allowed users to
lawfully report immigration enforcement activities, like ICEBlock and Red 
Dot, they argue. Unlike Groks sickening content generation, these apps were
not creating or hosting harmful or illegal content, and yet, based entirely 
on the [US Governments] claims that they posed a risk to immigration
enforcers, you removed them from your stores. 

The Senators say they hope that Apple and Google will demonstrate a similar
level of responsiveness and initiate swift action to remove the X and Grok
apps from your app stores. 

Regardless of whether Apple and Google take action, X and Grok are facing
increasing pressure around the world. The governments of both Indonesia and
Malaysia recently blocked Grok in light of the image-generation controversy,
and with legislators in the UK, European Union and India also closely
scrutinizing the AI tool, they may not be the only countries to make a move. 

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/us-senators-call-on-apple-an
d-google-to-ban-x-and-grok-from-app-stores-amid-image-generation-controversy

$$
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