Elon Musk watches as President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Nov. 19, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
Three Democratic senators are calling for apple and google Suspending X and Grok apps from the store, at least until owner Elon Musk allows users to create and share non-consensual, explicit images and depictions of child sexual abuse.
In an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Friday, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and New York Mexico State Sen. Ben Ray Lujan said the tech giant should “immediately remove the X and Grok apps from its app stores until the company’s CEO Elon Musk addresses these disturbing and likely illegal actions.”
“Turning a blind eye to X’s egregious behavior makes a mockery of your moderation practices,” the group said, adding that failure to act “undermines your argument in public and in court that your app store provides a safer user experience than allowing users to download apps directly to their phones.”
Musk’s xAI, developer of Grok and parent company of social media platform X, responded to CNBC’s request for comment with an automated reply. Google and Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
Grok and X make it easy for users to generate and widely share “deepfakes” of explicit and sexually explicit content, including those who have never given permission to use their images. Grok has also been used to generate images that demean people based on their race or ethnicity.
In a recent example, the London Times reported that “descendants of Holocaust survivors were ‘digitally stripped’ by Grok” after a user instructed an AI tool to generate an image of her in a bikini standing outside Auschwitz.
The issue sparked widespread criticism and regulatory investigations by foreign governments in Europe, Malaysia, Australia and India. However, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have not yet announced whether they will investigate xAI.
On January 3, Musk and Mr.
Both Apple and Google have strict guidelines for app developers, requiring them to prevent the uploading and sharing of images depicting child sexual abuse and other explicit or harmful content.
Social media and messaging apps such as Tumblr and Telegram have previously been suspended by the Apple App Store for failing to filter various inappropriate content.
On Friday, X reportedly made the Grok AI image generation feature available only to paying subscribers. But Grok’s standalone apps and websites allowed users to encourage Grok to digitally disrobe, sexualize, and degrade people without first obtaining consent to use their photos and clips.
CNN reported that Grok’s recent feature updates and relative lack of safety measures were Musk’s demands. According to reports, three xAI staff members who worked on the company’s safety team announced on X that they were resigning at Musk’s request.
Amid the backlash, xAI announced this week that it has raised a $20 billion funding round from investors including Nvidia and Cisco Investments, as well as longtime Musk backers Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and Baron Capital Group.
Spotlight: XAI completes $20 billion funding round
