European Commission investigates Grok's DSA compliance

IRIS 2026-2:1/15

Paola Bellissens

European Audiovisual Observatory

On 26 January, the European Commission opened an investigation against the X platform, specifically targeting Grok, under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Grok is an AI tool developed by X. It generates text and images to provide context for various publications and has recently been used extensively to produce nude images of women and children.

Since X and Grok are subject to the DSA, the Commission opened an investigation into the platform. Under Articles 34 and 35 of the DSA, X is obliged to assess and mitigate the systemic and potential risks associated with its services. However, these risks have now been identified and are exposing users to significant harm. The Commission is therefore examining whether X is carefully assessing and mitigating these risks. In addition, X will be required to produce and submit to the Commission an ad hoc risk assessment report on Grok's functionalities.

At the same time as opening this new investigation, the Commission extended another that had been opened in December 2023. Targeting X and its recommendation systems, this investigation also aims to determine whether X has correctly assessed and mitigated the systemic risks defined in the DSA. It will now also focus on the impact of Grok's recommendation system.

In future, the Commission will ensure that it gathers all evidence and may impose certain measures in the absence of a significant change to the platform. X is nevertheless invited to remedy the shortcomings identified and, if it does so, the Commission could accept any undertakings that it submits.