And it’s Kerry again! Huge congrats to Young Science & Technology Exhibition winner 2026 Aoibheann Daly. #yste

Banks that don’t hesitate to cancel the accounts of sex workers who aren’t breaking any laws themselves

All the major payment processers, famously, will outright not work with sex workers or anything of that ilk. But they are continuing to work with X.

I also am really mad at the blatant hypocrisy of payment processors demanding steam and itch get rid of games with adult nudity in them while gleefully working with the app that removes the clothes of children on demand.

The bit politicians aren't saying out loud is: "But you don't understand how much hassle it is to treat very rich people equally under the law. Seriously it's HAAAARD. It causes us all sorts of problems for us. If you knew how HARD it was you'd be content with our decision to just leave it."

Worth noting that X hasn't even made the Grok nudification feature available to paying users only. Any user, free or paid, can still use the tool on Grok's dedicated site; the bit that's behind the paywall is specifically being able to tweet @-grok to generate pics

It seems to me here using a dummy account that the long-press “Edit Image with Grok” is still available to non-paying users on Twitter. Is it just the “@grok” tweet based prompting that has been set to subscriber only perk?

What I should have added in this piece is that even if all of this stopped right now, that doesn't pardon any past offences already committed. Criminal prohibitions of sexual abuse and expolitation are partly aimed at deterrence - and this only works if they are enforced.

One reason I feel like I'm going mad is, even if Musk did immediately halt Grok and issue a grovelling apology - rather than PAYWALLING IT - he should *still* be prosecuted and his website banned. Very obviously! You don't get out of CSAM charges by just stopping. AND HE STILL HASN'T STOPPED.

Meanwhile, MEP Billy Kelleher says the powers exist right now to temporarily suspend Grok while the Commission investigates. "Our political leaders must grasp this issue once and for all. We have the power to act but it seems we don’t have the bravery to act."

“There will be plenty of times in the coming years when the law needs to adjust to the reality of #generativeAI tools. However, this is not one of them. Existing laws in #Ireland are sufficiently clear… to prohibit companies from making AI tools available that can be used for [the] creation of CSAM”

On @rteradio1.bsky.social shortly with @mcculld.bsky.social discussing the latest on the Grok CSAM scandal.

You want to watch this. And you want the sound on. Trust me on this.

Although, unsurprisingly, there's maybe not a huge amount of consistency here! bsky.app/profile/jim....

Also see Eliot has tested this too bsky.app/profile/elio...

It does appear that X has limited the accounts that can create images using Grok. Tested creating a nature image on X from a free account and it did not create one. A free account on Grok's website and app could create images. On X, Grok is still being used to create some sexualized images

New Podcast out now: - Will Ireland face down Elon Musk (feat @elaineburke.bsky.social) - European silence on Donald Trump's empire building - Why China is interested in Ireland with @gavreilly.com in Shanghai - Jessie Buckley ✅ and Saipan the Movie ❌ podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...

There appears to be no official word on this but this appears to be the response non-subscribers are currently getting on image requests. The chatbot also responded to one user saying it has no abilities to "undress" images. Then it replies to paid users with undressed images on request.

You can report an App to Apple for containing illegal or other material. In the App Store go to the X app and select it. Then scroll down to the end and press the report button. I reported it today for creating and spreading CSAM

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the country will take action against X following reports that Grok is generating sexualized deepfakes of adults and minors. There’s the potential for X to be blocked in the UK through Online Safety Act powers www.theverge.com/news/859107/...

Cloid.

Have been wondering this all day myself. Particularly the App Store which has always been *allergic* to anything pornographic.

One of the top replies under an image on X of Renee Good's body slumped over in her car after an ICE agent shot her is another user asking Grok to put her body in a bikini. Grok then generated the image.

Some good new reporting on the ongoing Grok nightmare from @hadasgold.bsky.social www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/t...

🗣️ “6,700 images were being generated in this way every single hour.” The Group Chat examines the scale of the Grok deepfake crisis, the numbers behind it, and what the Irish Government can do. 📺 Tonight at 10PM | Virgin Media Play & Virgin Media One

None of my to-do list items include scrolling the feed but I am nonetheless finding it difficult to ignore Events.

Rape Crisis Ireland is no longer active on X. Stay connected with us on these platforms: Bluesky >> @rapecrisisireland.bsky.social LinkedIn >> @Rape Crisis Ireland Facebook >> @RapeCrisisIreland Instagram >> @rape_crisis_ireland Thank you for your support! #FactsNotMyths #SupportingSurvivors

The Government is facing growing criticism over its handling of the X deepfake scandal. Tech experts, teachers’ unions and Women’s Aid are calling for regulation of the platform, while the Media Minister says it is a matter of personal responsibility. More on #VMNews

Just home from seeing the film Saipan so of course I am now going to read the entire Wikipedia page and multiple articles about the film Saipan.

I would have thought condemning an company producing child abuse material on an industrial scale for profit would be an easy one. But here were are.

Section 5(1)(f) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 (as amended) makes it a criminal offence to knowingly facilitate the production or distribution of sexualised images of children. The problem here isn't the law - it's the political willingnesss to enforce it against X.

And I do hope the Minister jumps to Section 9 of the 1998 Act which says a very interesting thing about the liability of Directors, Managers, and Officers of bodies corporate who through consent, neglect, or connivance permit an offence to be committed. X staff in Dublin might want to consider it.

Uncontrolled internet access like serving children 'gin and tonic' And continuing to post on a site that generates CSAM material is like... continuing to post on a site that generates CSAM material. No metaphors needed.

I'm gonna feel like a real idiot filling out my next Garda vetting forms, visiting the organisation in person to have them processed before I even do any work with them, all in the name of ensuring kids stay safe, when the Government can't find it in themselves to stop posting on the CSAM site

Let us not forget what chatbots are doing when they're not being used as tools of sexual violence. This is all going just great, eh?

Funny that this argument hasn't washed with them when children's rights groups are telling them age-gating social media access is a bad idea. But now... I've been saying from the start that age-gating is a cop out on regulating platforms properly. Feeling validated (and furious, frankly).

First Group Chat of the year recording today 📺 - Venezuela, Greenland, Colombia, Cuba... Donald Trump smashes the already flagging rules-based order. - @elaineburke.bsky.social joins us to discuss Grok. - @gavreilly.com is in China as both Martin and Xi look to new markets.

[My best 'southern belle' voice:] Well I do despair.

OpenAI “makes sure to mention in the blog post that ChatGPT Health is ‘not intended for diagnosis or treatment,’ but it can’t fully control how people end up using AI when they leave the chat.”

Every hour between Monday and Tuesday, Twitter generated 6,700 sexual deepfake images. Experts say it has become the biggest online factory of such material in the world. This was a trend once on the darkest corners of the web - now pushed by a billionaire into the mainstream.

Very much a "down with this sort of thing" vibe. it's really simple: create a network effect by moving NOW, adopting @gov.ie as primary channel and spin up a gov.ie Mastodon server that will be a definitive and verified channel (particularly useful in the run up to the EU Presidency)

For anyone clinging on to X: Virality is a network effect. It's created by people, not platforms. People shouldn't be so shit-scared of moving on from a platform cos of their numbers.

Imagine caring more about your twitter follower number than about supporting the generation of CSAM and abusive images of women. Mortifying.

A social media platform created a chatbot, essentially a machine, that produces child sex abuse material on request. They are responsible for that crime and must be held to account.

What is the point of having deepfake tools readily available for all to use? Genuine question. Because over 90% of what's created is porn, and I'd wager a good chunk of that is non-consensual. And the reamining sliver is scams, slop and ... what exactly that makes it so necessary to keep around????

company that creates deepfake CSAM raises $20 billion www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/t...

The rest of us can reflect on the fact that our Tánaiste still has his X account, after learning of the creation and sharing of non-consensual sexualised images of children and women on Grok.

Gonna be on Ireland AM shortly talking about the horrible X news. (It's never lovely X news.)

The same Minister, who says in the quoted article that “There is no other right that trumps the right of a child to be protected”, also still has an active X account

i remember when creating CSAM would mean your website was shutdown immediately and people not only wouldn't choose to hang out there but literally couldn't because again it was shutdown immediately