The U.K.’s investigation into Elon Musk’s X platform over allegedly illegal deepfakes risks igniting a simmering battle over online regulation and free speech between the U.S. and Europe.
On Monday, the U.K.’s online safety regulator Ofcom announced it had opened a formal investigation into the platform over the rise of sexualized deepfakes of women and children being created and shared on X. The investigation will examine whether the social media platform has failed to comply with its legal obligations under the U.K. Online Safety Act, which came into force in March last year. The UK government is also bringing into force a law that will make it illegal for companies to supply the tools that create deepfake images, the country’s UK technology secretary, Liz Kendall, said on Monday.
