Elon Musk-owned X has imposed new restrictions on Grok by placing its controversial image editing tool behind a paywall after the UK government threatened to ban the platform over the ongoing AI bikini viral trend. The controversy began when Grok started taking off everyone’s clothes with a simple gesture, flooding the platform with sexually explicit deepfake images of mainly women. The backlash that followed – and a strong warning from the UK – has now forced X, or rather XAI, to lock down image production. It is accessible to paying users as well as those who access Grok through its dedicated website and application.

According to a BBC report, UK non-paying The new restrictions require users to provide identification and payment details to access the feature, with only verified, blue-tick account holders now able to edit images on the platform.

As far as free users go, xAI is providing access to Grok’s image creation tools through its application and website.

The ban on image creation on X comes after weeks of protest from online safety campaigners and abuse survivors who warned that Grok was being exploited to generate non-consensual and explicit content. Concerns were further heightened when the tool went viral for its clothing-removing trend, with many X users asking Grok to digitally remove clothing from photos, in some cases creating erotic deepfakes involving minors.

Screenshots of such edits quickly spread online, leading to criticism of the lack of guardrails and how easily the AI ​​can be misused. Pressure on

Some victims of deepfakes created using Grok AI on X said they felt “humiliated” and “dehumanized”, the BBC reports. He also called for Elon Musk to introduce stronger ethical guardrails on the platform, and criticized the company for failing to properly acknowledge the scale of the problem.

X now limits access to Grok image creation

Following the backlash, X has now placed Grok’s image tools behind a paywall. However, while the company says the move is aimed at preventing abuse, the UK government is reportedly arguing that moving the feature to payments access does nothing to address the deep security concerns around the technology.

The controversy comes at a time when Grok AI’s servers are witnessing heavy load. Musk recently said that the use of AI chatbots has grown so much that his company, XAI, was forced to bring more computing power online to meet demand. “There is an occasional slowdown in responses due to increased heavy usage of Grok.

As I type this, additional computers are being brought online,” Musk wrote in a recent post on X.

While Musk hasn’t directly linked the surge in usage to the deepfake trend, the timing has raised questions about whether viral abuse has played a role in driving traffic to XAI’s model.