Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have launched an investigation into conservative billionaire Elon Musk and his company’s creation and distribution of nonconsensual sexualized imagery—which includes images of children.
Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, and Yvette Clark of New York sent a letter on Thursday to Musk, who operates as the CEO of xAI, the parent company of X and the owner of the Grok chatbot.
“We are deeply concerned about xAI’s refusal to put a stop to the creation of nonconsensual sexualized images, particularly of children,” the members said in their letter.
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In an accompanying release, the members cite the company’s “edit image” tool which was launched in December 2025, which allows users to “digitally alter and post nonconsensual sexualized images of people at an alarming rate.”
The members note research estimating that the Grok tool has been used to produce “an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children and at least 1.8 million posts of sexualized images of women” between December and January of this year.
The Democrats have asked Musk to explain when he became aware that Grok began producing these images, how the company is justifying the production of the photos, what guardrails have been put in place, and if X has had to remove imagery to comply with law enforcement.
The query from the Democrats is in response to an August request from a coalition of consumer advocacy groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, asking state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate X.
While Democrats have begun probing Musk’s company, the Trump administration has been acting to protect Musk—who has donated millions to Trump, the Republican Party, and other right-wing causes.
The State Department said on Thursday they were making an official commitment to rolling out tools that would allow people around the world to access content hosted on platforms like X despite local prohibitions.
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X has faced restrictions in several countries after it allowed the distribution of hateful content, including antisemitic material, in addition to nonconsensual sexual imagery. International investigations have been launched, even as Republicans in the federal government have turned a blind eye to Musk’s activities.
Not coincidentally, Republican disinterest in the possible harm from Musk’s actions comes as he announced plans to donate millions to Republican efforts to retain control of Congress in this year’s midterm elections.
