BRUSSELS — Elon Musk has denied that X’s artificial intelligence tool Grok generates illegal content in the wake of AI-generated undressed and sexualized images on the platform. In a fresh post Wednesday, X’s powerful owner sought to argue that users — not the AI tool — are responsible and that the platform is fully compliant with all laws. “I[‘m] not aware of any naked underage images generated by Grok,” he said. “Literally zero.” “When asked to generate images, [Grok] will refuse to produce anything illegal, as the operating principle for Grok is to obey the laws of any given country or state,” he added. “There may be times when adversarial hacking of Grok prompts does something unexpected. If that happens, we fix the bug immediately.” Musk’s remarks follow heightened scrutiny by both the EU and the U.K., with Brussels describing the appearance of nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes on X as “illegal,” “appalling” and “disgusting.” The U.K.’s communications watchdog, Ofcom, said Monday that it had launched an investigation into X. On Wednesday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the platform is “acting to ensure full compliance” with the relevant law but said the government won’t “back down.” The EU’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen warned Monday that X should quickly “fix” its AI tool, or the platform would face consequences under the bloc’s platform law, the Digital Services Act. The Commission last week ordered X to retain all of Grok’s data and documents until the end of the year. Just 11 days ago, Musk said that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content” in response to a post about the inappropriate images. The company’s safety team posted a similar line, warning that it takes action against illegal activity, including child sexual abuse material.

A clash between Poland’s right-wing president and its centrist ruling coalition over the European Union’s flagship social media law is putting the country further at risk of multimillion euro fines from Brussels. President Karol Nawrocki is holding up a bill that would implement the EU’s Digital Services Act, a tech law that allows regulators to police how social media firms moderate content. Nawrocki, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a statement that the law would “give control of content on the internet to officials subordinate to the government, not to independent courts.” The government coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nawrocki’s rival, warned this further exposed them to the risk of EU fines as high as €9.5 million. Deputy Digital Minister Dariusz Standerski said in a TV interview that, “since the president decided to veto this law, I’m assuming he is also willing to have these costs [of a potential fine] charged to the budget of the President’s Office.” Nawrocki’s refusal to sign the bill brings back bad memories of Warsaw’s years-long clash with Brussels over the rule of law, a conflict that began when Nawrocki’s Law and Justice party rose to power in 2015 and started reforming the country’s courts and regulators. The EU imposed €320 million in penalties on Poland from 2021-2023. Warsaw was already in a fight with the Commission over its slow implementation of the tech rulebook since 2024, when the EU executive put Poland on notice for delaying the law’s implementation and for not designating a responsible authority. In May last year Brussels took Warsaw to court over the issue. If the EU imposes new fines over the rollout of digital rules, it would “reignite debates reminiscent of the rule-of-law mechanism and frozen funds disputes,” said Jakub Szymik, founder of Warsaw-based non-profit watchdog group CEE Digital Democracy Watch. Failure to implement the tech law could in the long run even lead to fines and penalties accruing over time, as happened when Warsaw refused to reform its courts during the earlier rule of law crisis. The European Commission said in a statement that it “will not comment on national legislative procedures.” It added that “implementing the [Digital Services Act] into national law is essential to allow users in Poland to benefit from the same DSA rights.” “This is why we have an ongoing infringement procedure against Poland” for its “failure to designate and empower” a responsible authority, the statement said. Under the tech platforms law, countries were supposed to designate a national authority to oversee the rules by February 2024. Poland is the only EU country that hasn’t moved to at least formally agree on which regulator that should be. The European Commission is the chief regulator for a group of very large online platforms, including Elon Musk’s X, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, Chinese-owned TikTok and Shein and others. But national governments have the power to enforce the law on smaller platforms and certify third parties for dispute resolution, among other things. National laws allow users to exercise their rights to appeal to online platforms and challenge decisions. When blocking the bill last Friday, Nawrocki said a new version could be ready within two months. But that was “very unlikely … given that work on the current version has been ongoing for nearly two years and no concrete alternative has been presented” by the president, said Szymik, the NGO official. The Digital Services Act has become a flashpoint in the political fight between Brussels and Washington over how to police online platforms. The EU imposed its first-ever fine under the law on X in December, prompting the U.S. administration to sanction former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton and four other Europeans. Nawrocki last week likened the law to “the construction of the Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s novel 1984,” a criticism that echoed claims by Trump and his top MAGA officials that the law censored conservatives and right-wingers. Bartosz Brzeziński contributed reporting.

Political leaders stepped up demands for new EU sanctions against the regime in Iran, in response to the violent suppression of mass protests across the country.  “Europe needs to act — and fast,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told POLITICO. “We will support any future measures taken at EU level.”  Metsola, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin are among those who want Brussels to escalate sanctions against Tehran. The EU’s executive in Brussels is reviewing options and promised to come forward with a plan. Proposals under discussion include designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and tougher measures against regime figures responsible for the violence.  Authorities in Tehran have sought to quell an uprising that has spread across more than 100 towns and cities in Iran since Dec. 28. The protests began as demonstrations against the dire economic situation, with rampant inflation and a plunging currency making daily life almost impossible for millions of Iranians. But they quickly grew into a nationwide uprising demanding, in many cases, the overthrow of the ayatollahs’ authoritarian regime. Accurate data is difficult to verify, after the regime shut off internet communications, but an Iranian official claimed around 2,000 people may have been killed, including security personnel, according to Reuters. Many thousands of protesters have been arrested.  “Political signals, support and solidarity are important — but we need to show that we are serious,” Metsola said. The EU must demonstrate it is watching the unfolding crisis, listening to the calls of those demonstrating against the regime, and most importantly “acting,” she added. “If we do not stand up and call out these injustices, we let all these brave people in Iran, [who] are marching for justice, down. We cannot let this happen.”  Metsola has announced she is banning all Iranian diplomats and officials from entering any of the European Parliament’s buildings or offices. She then set out her criteria for new sanctions. “Measures must be effective and targeted, ensuring that those responsible — politically, militarily or judicially — are held accountable,” Metsola said. “We need to make sure that these sanctions are far-reaching and hard-hitting, sending an unmistakable message that human rights violations will not be tolerated.” The German chancellor also indicated his team was working on a fresh EU package of sanctions. “The regime’s violence against its own people is not a sign of strength, but of weakness. It must end immediately,” Merz posted on X. “To underscore this message, we are working on further EU sanctions.” The European Commission has been weighing up further action. On Tuesday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised plans for a new wave of sanctions would come soon.  “The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” she wrote on X. “Further sanctions on those responsible for the repression will be swiftly proposed. We stand with the people of Iran who are bravely marching for their liberty.” U.S. President Donald Trump announced any country doing business with Iran would face a 25 percent American tariff. He has promised to come to the aid of protesters and is weighing up options including potential military strikes.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s top tech official has warned Elon Musk’s X to quickly “fix” its AI tool Grok — or face consequences under the controversial Digital Services Act. The fact that Grok allows users to generate pictures that depict women and minors undressed and sexualized is “horrendous”, said Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s tech chief. She urged the company to take immediate action. “X now has to fix its AI tool in the EU, and they have to do it quickly,” she said in a post on the platform. If that doesn’t happen, the European Commission is ready to strike under the the Digital Services Act, its law governing digital platforms. “We will not hesitate to put the DSA to its full use to protect EU citizens.” Under the DSA, platforms like X must address systemic risks, including those related to the spread of illegal content, or face fines of up to 6 per cent of their global annual turnover. Last month the European Commission imposed a €120 million fine on X for minor transparency infringements, drawing howls of outrage from the Trump administration. The Commission ordered X last week to retain all documents and data related to Grok until the end of this year.

Meta named former Trump adviser Dina Powell McCormick to serve as president and vice chair Monday, further cementing the company’s growing ties to Republicans and President Donald Trump’s White House. In addition to a long career on Wall Street, Powell McCormick served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser during his first term. She was also a member of the George W. Bush administration. She first joined Meta’s board last April, part of a broader play by the social media and artificial intelligence giant to hire Republicans following Trump’s election. In a statement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Powell McCormick’s “experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, [which] makes her uniquely suited to help Meta manage this next phase of growth.” Rightward trend: Powell McCormick’s time in global finance — she spent 16 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs and was most recently a top executive at banking company BDT & MSD Partners — could be a major asset to Meta as it raises hundreds of billions of dollars to build out data centers and other AI-related infrastructure. But her GOP pedigree and proximity to Trump likely played a significant role in her hiring as well. Since Trump’s election, Meta has worked to curry favor with Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill. The company elevated former GOP official Joel Kaplan to serve as global affairs lead last January, simultaneously tapping Kevin Martin, a former Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, as his No. 2. Under pressure from Republicans, last year Meta also rolled back many of its former rules related to content moderation. In 2024, the company apologized to congressional Republicans — specifically Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Judiciary Committee — for removing content that contained disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether Powell McCormick’s ties to Trump and Republicans played a role in her hiring. Trump thumbs up: In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump congratulated Powell McCormick and said Zuckerberg made a “great choice.” The president called her “a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction!”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen blasted Elon Musk’s platform X over the spread of sexually explicit deepfakes created using its AI chatbot Grok. “I am appalled that a tech platform is enabling users to digitally undress women and children online. This is unthinkable behavior. And the harm caused by these deepfakes is very real,” von der Leyen said in an interview with multiple European media outlets, including Reuters and Corriere della Sera. “We will not be outsourcing child protection and consent to Silicon Valley. If they don’t act, we will,” she warned. Since the beginning of January, thousands of women and teenagers, including public figures, have reported that their photos published on social media have been “undressed” and put in bikinis by Grok at the request of users. The deepfake tool has prompted investigations from regulators across Europe, including in Brussels, Dublin, Paris and London. The European Commission ordered X on Thursday to retain “all internal documents and data relating to Grok” — an escalation of the ongoing investigation into X’s content moderation policies — after calling the nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes “illegal,” “appalling” and “disgusting.” In response, X made its controversial AI image generation feature only available to users with paid subscriptions. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said that limiting the tool’s use to paying subscribers did not mean an end to the EU’s investigation. The scandal has emerged as a fresh test of the EU’s resolve to rein in Musk and U.S. Big Tech firms. Only a month earlier, Brussels fined X €120 million for breaching the bloc’s landmark platform law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The fine sparked a swift and forceful reaction from Washington, with the U.S. administration imposing a travel ban on the EU’s former digital commissioner and chief architect of the DSA, Thierry Breton. X did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment about von der Leyen’s criticism.

BRUSSELS — A new EU rule mandating that a higher proportion of passengers pass through electronic identity border checks risks “wreaking significant discomfort on travelers,” warned the head of the bloc’s airport lobby. But a Commission spokesperson insisted that the electronic check system, which first went into limited use in October with a higher proportion of travelers to be checked from Friday, “has operated largely without issues.” The new Entry/Exit System is aimed at replacing passport stamps and cracking down on illegal stays in the bloc. Under the new system, travelers from third countries like the U.K. and the U.S. must register fingerprints and a facial image the first time they cross the frontier before reaching a border officer. But those extra steps are causing delays. In October, 10 percent of passengers had to use the new system; as of Friday, at least 35 percent of non-EU nationals entering the Schengen area for a short stay must use it. By April 10, the system will be fully in place. Its introduction last year caused issues at many airports, and industry worries that Friday’s step-up will cause a repeat. The EES “has resulted in border control processing times at airports increasing by up to 70 percent, with waiting times of up to three hours at peak traffic periods,” said Olivier Jankovec, director general of ACI Europe, adding that Friday’s new mandate is “sure to create even worse conditions.” Brussels Airport spokesperson Ihsane Chioua Lekhli said: “The introduction of EES has an impact on the waiting time for passengers and increases the need for sufficient staffing at border control,” adding: “Peak waiting times at arrival (entry of Belgium) can go up to three hours, and we also saw an increase of waiting times at departures.” But the Commission rejected the accusation that EES is wreaking havoc at EU airports. “Since its start, the system has operated largely without issues, even during the peak holiday period, and any initial challenges typical of new systems have been effectively addressed, moreover with it, we know who enter in the EU, when, and where,” said Markus Lammert, the European Commission’s spokesperson for internal affairs. Lamert said countries “have refuted the claim” made by ACI Europe of increased waiting times and that concerns over problems related to the new 35 percent threshold have been “disproven.” That’s in stark contrast with the view of the airport lobby, which pointed to recent problems in Portugal. Under the new system, travelers from third countries like the U.K. and the U.S. must register fingerprints and a facial image the first time they cross the frontier before reaching a border officer. | iStock “There are mounting operational issues with the EES rollout — the case in point being the suspension of the system by the Portuguese government over the holidays,” Jankovec said. In late December, the Portuguese government suspended the EES at Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport for three months and deployed military personnel to bolster border control capabilities. ADR, which operates Rome Fiumicino Airport, is also seeing issues. “Operational conditions are proving highly complex, with a significant impact on passenger processing times at border controls,” ADR said in a written reply. Spain’s hotel industry association asked the country’s interior ministry to beef up staffing, warning of “recurring bottlenecks at border controls.” “It is unreasonable that, after a journey of several hours, tourists should face waits of an hour or more to enter the country,” said Jorge Marichal, the lobby’s president. The Spanish interior ministry said the EES is being used across the country with “no queues or significant incidents reported to date.” However, not all airports are having trouble implementing the new system. The ADP Group, which manages the two largest airports in Paris, said it has “not observed any chaos or increase in waiting times at this stage.”

Just as Cyprus’ government should be concentrating on its presidency of the Council of the EU, it has to firefight controversy at home over a video circulating online that alleges top-level corruption. The furor centers on a mysterious video posted on X with a montage of senior figures filmed apparently describing ways to bypass campaign spending caps with cash donations, and seemingly discussing a scheme allowing businesspeople to access the president and first lady. One segment made reference to helping Russians avoid EU sanctions. The government denies the allegations made in the video and calls it “hybrid activity” aimed at harming “the image of the government and the country.” The government does not say the video is a fake, but insists the comments have been spliced together misleadingly. The footage appears to have been shot using hidden cameras in private meetings. Unconvinced, opposition parties are now calling for further action. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides hit back hard against the suggestion of illicit campaign funding in remarks to local media on Friday. “I would like to publicly call on anyone who has evidence of direct or indirect financial gains during the election campaign or during my time as President of the Republic to submit it immediately to the competent state authorities,” he said. “I will not give anyone, absolutely anyone, the right to accuse me of corruption.” In relation to the reference to payments made by businesses, he said companies “must also offer social benefits within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the state, I want to repeat, for the state. And they do so in the areas of health, welfare, defense, and many other areas.” The contentious video was posted on Thursday afternoon on social media platform X on an account under the name “Emily Thompson,” who is described as an “independent researcher, analyst and lecturer focused mainly on American domestic and foreign policies.” It was not immediately possible to find public and verifiable information confirming the real identity of the person behind the account. The video includes footage of former Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis and the director of the president’s office, Charalambos Charalambous. In the recordings, Lakkotrypis is presented as a point of contact for people seeking access to Christodoulides. He appears to walk his interlocutor through the process on payments above the €1 million campaign limit. In a written statement, Lakkotrypis said it is “self-evident” from the video that remarks attributed to him were edited in order to distort the context of the discussions, with the aim of harming Cyprus and himself personally. He added that he filed a complaint with the police. The police have launched an investigation into the video, after Lakkotrypis’ complaint, its spokesman Vyron Vyronos told the Cyprus News Agency. The video then shows Charalambous, Christodoulides’ brother-in-law, who explains gaining access to the presidential palace. “We are the main, the two, contacts here at the palace, next to the president,” he says, adding that interested parties could approach the president with a proposal and money that could be directed toward social contributions. There was no official statement from Charalambous. The video alleges that social contributions made by companies through a fund run by the first lady are being misused to win preferential treatment from the presidency. Concern over this fund is not new. The Cypriot parliament last year voted through legislation that called for the publication of the names of the donors to that fund. The president vetoed that move, however, and took the matter to court, arguing that publicly disclosing the list of donors would be a personal data breach. The court ruled in favor of the president and the names were not revealed. Stefanos Stefanou, leader of the main opposition AKEL party, said the video raised “serious political, ethical, and institutional issues” which compromised the president and his entourage politically and personally. He called on the president to dismiss Charalambous, abolish the social support fund and — after the donors have been made public — transfer its responsibilities to another institution. AKEL also submitted a bill on Friday to abolish the fund within the next three months and called for the first lady to resign as head of the fund. AKEL also requested that the allegations from the video be discussed in the parliament’s institutions’ committee. Another opposition party, Democratic Rally, said: “What is revealed in the video is shocking and extremely serious … Society is watching in shock and demanding clear and convincing answers from the government. Answers that have not yet been given.” Cyprus has parliamentary elections in May and the next presidential election is in 2028.

WARSAW — Poland’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki on Friday sided with his ally U.S. President Donald Trump to veto legislation on enforcing the EU’s social media law, which is hated by the American administration. Trump and his top MAGA officials condemn the EU’s Digital Services Act — which seeks to force big platforms like Elon Musk’s X, Facebook, Instagram to moderate content — as a form of “Orwellian” censorship against conservative and right-wingers. The presidential veto stops national regulators in Warsaw from implementing the DSA and sets Nawrocki up for a a clash with centrist pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Tusk’s parliamentary majority passed the legislation introducing the DSA in Poland. Nawrocki argued that while the bill’s stated aim of protecting citizens — particularly minors — was legitimate, the Polish bill would grant excessive power to government officials over online content, resulting in “administrative censorship.”  “I want this to be stated clearly: a situation in which what is allowed on the internet is decided by an official subordinate to the government resembles the construction of the Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s novel 1984,” Nawrocki said in a statement — echoing the U.S.’s stance on the law. Nawrocki also warned that allowing authorities to decide what constitutes truth or disinformation would erode freedom of expression “step by step.” He called for a revised draft that would protect children while ensuring that disputes over online speech are settled by independent courts. Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski dismissed Nawrocki’s position, accusing the president of undermining online safety and siding with digital platforms.  “The president has vetoed online safety,” Gawkowski told a press briefing Friday afternoon, arguing the law would have protected children from predators, families from disinformation and users from opaque algorithms.  The minister also rejected Nawrocki’s Orwellian comparisons, saying the bill explicitly relied on ordinary courts rather than officials to rule on online content. Gawkowski said Poland is now among the few EU countries without national legislation enabling effective enforcement of the DSA and pledged that the government would continue to pursue new rules. The clash comes as enforcement of the social media law has become a flashpoint in EU-U.S. relations.  Brussels has already fined Elon Musk’s X €120 million for breaching the law, prompting a furious response from Washington, including travel bans imposed by the Trump administration on former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, an architect of the tech law, and four disinformation experts. The DSA allows fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s global revenue and, as a measure of last resort, temporary bans on platforms. Earlier this week, the European Commission expanded its investigation into X’s AI service Grok after it started posting a wave of non-consensual sexualized pictures of people in response to X users’ requests. The European Commission’s digital spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the EU executive would not comment on national legislative procedures. “Implementing the DSA into national law is essential to allow users in Poland to benefit from the same DSA rights, such as challenging platforms if their content is deleted or their account suspended,” he said. “This is why we have an ongoing infringement procedure against Poland. We have referred Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU for failure to designate and empower the Digital Services Coordinator,” in May 2025, Regnier added. Gawkowski said that the government would make a quick decision on what to do next with the vetoed bill but declined to offer specifics on what a new bill would look like were it to be submitted to parliament again. Tusk four-party coalition does not have enough votes in parliament to override Nawrocki’s vetoes. That has created a political deadlock over key legislation efforts by the government, which stands for reelection next year. Nawrocki, meanwhile, is aiming to help the Law and Justice (PiS) political party he’s aligned with to retake power after losing to Tusk in 2023. Mathieu Pollet contributed reporting.

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok restricted access to a much-criticized deepfake generator on social media platform X following a surge of users creating nonconsensual nude images. Grok now says that “image generation is currently limited to paying subscribers” as “this helps ensure responsible use while we continue refining things,” citing “recent issues and improvements to safeguards.” The chatbot has drawn scrutiny from regulators and politicians across Europe after it enabled users to manipulate pictures posted online into a series of deepfakes, including depictions of undressed minors and public figures. Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch was one of the latest high-profile victims. That post is no longer visible. “This post from grok has been withheld in [the] European Union based on local law(s),” it is now labeled. The European Commission ordered X on Thursday to retain “all internal documents and data relating to Grok” — an escalation of the ongoing investigation into X’s content moderation policies — after calling the nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes “illegal,” “appalling” and “disgusting.” X did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.