InfoSecBulletin Cybersecurity for mankind
Three Senate Democrats urge Apple and Google to remove X and its chatbot Grok from their app stores due to the creation and distribution of explicit non-consensual images of women and children.
Senators Ron Wyden from Oregon, Ed Markey from Massachusetts, and Ben Ray Luján from New Mexico called upon Apple and Google to uphold their app store terms of service by suspending X’s apps until the company addresses its policy violations.
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In an open letter directed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Senators highlight the misuse of the app’s Grok AI tool, which has been exploited to create nonconsensual sexual imagery of real, private individuals on a large scale. They also refer to instances involving sexualized images of minors, alongside disturbing content that illustrates humiliation, abuse, and even the murder of women.
“What is more, X has reportedly encouraged this behavior, including through the company’s CEO Elon Musk acknowledging this trend with laugh-cry emoji reactions,” the Senators say.
Due to a found Grok app archive with nearly 100 images of possible child sexual abuse materials created since August
They quote Google’s terms of service, which explicitly require apps to prohibit disturbing content, while Apple’s terms of service do not allow apps to include “offensive” or “just plain creepy” content.
“Turning a blind eye to X’s egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation Practice,” the Senators suggest.
According to them, not taking action would undermine Google’s and Apple’s claims in public and in court that their app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones.
“This principle has been core to your advocacy against legislative reforms to increase app store competition and your defenses to claims that your app stores abuse their market power through their payment systems,” they suggest.
Senators point to Google and Apple swiftly removing apps like ICEBlock and Red Dot, which let users report immigration enforcement, as proof they can act quickly under pressure from the Department of Homeland Security.
Google and Apple are expected to respond to the letter by January 23rd, 2026.
On Saturday, news broke that the UK is contemplating a ban on X, as Technology Secretary Liz Kendall expressed her backing for Ofcom’s potential decision to block the platform should it not adhere to UK online safety regulations.
