British premier ends X boycott as platform moves to comply with UK law

LONDON

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday ended his boycott of US social media company X, saying the company is “acting to ensure full compliance with UK law.”

With a post on the platform on Thursday, Starmer returned to US billionaire Elon Musk's X for the first time since Jan. 8, when he stepped back from the site amid controversy over its AI tool, Grok, and the creation of non‑consensual sexualized images of women and children.

"Free speech is not the freedom to violate consent. Young women’s images are not public property, and their safety is not up for debate," Starmer said.

“I welcome that X is now acting to ensure full compliance with UK law – it must happen immediately,” he added.

He also signaled his readiness to go further on online safety, saying: “If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepared to do that.”

The row began after reports that X’s AI chatbot Grok was being used to generate inappropriate edits of images of women and children, prompting widespread concern over online harms and potential breaches of the UK’s Online Safety Act.

The UK’s online safety regulator Ofcom on Monday opened a formal investigation into X over concerns that the platform's AI tool Grok is being used to create sexualized imagery.

The watchdog will examine whether X has failed to meet several key obligations under the Online Safety Act.

These include whether the platform has properly assessed the risk of UK users encountering illegal content, and whether it carried out updated risk assessments before making significant changes to its service.