UK Prime Minister Starmer seeks support for international X ban (www.euractiv.com)

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is leading discussions with Canada and Australia to potentially impose an international ban on the social media platform X, following the alarming use of its AI assistant, Grok, to create sexualized deepfakes of women and children. This push highlights escalating concerns over the platform's content moderation and the ethical responsibilities of AI developers. After the company acknowledged its AI's inadequate safeguards, which allowed these explicit images to proliferate, it restricted image generation to paying users. Despite these efforts, lawmakers are demanding stricter regulatory measures, expressing dissatisfaction with X's response. The significance of this initiative lies in its potential to reshape the landscape of AI governance and social media regulation, especially concerning the accountability of AI technologies. Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Canada’s AI minister have publicly condemned the situation, emphasizing the need for platforms to prevent such harms. As the UK media regulator Ofcom considers sanctions, including a possible ban on X, this situation is being closely watched internationally. The growing calls for action underscore the challenges faced by governments in balancing innovation with the need to protect users from harmful content, amidst fears of censorship and tensions between international regulatory standards.