EU Lawmakers Call for Homegrown Social Media Platform After Grok Scandal
European lawmakers have called for the creation of a European Union-backed social media platform to counter the influence of X, following a controversy involving Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok.
The move comes after X allowed users to post highly sexualised videos of women and children generated by Grok, although the company has said it has taken steps to curb misuse.
“Millions of European citizens are stuck on X, as there is no clear alternative and no simple way for people to transfer their data and the connections they have built there,” members of the European Parliament (MEPs) said in a letter issued on Wednesday. “Now is the moment to back European alternatives to the dominant social media platforms.”
The letter, signed by 54 left-wing and liberal MEPs, urged the European Commission (EC) and EU member states to support the development of European social media by providing funding for private initiatives aimed at fostering homegrown innovation.
The lawmakers argued that X has fundamentally changed since being taken over by Musk, saying the platform “is no longer an open and balanced tool for political communication or journalism” due to algorithm changes introduced under his ownership.
“It is not a ‘public square’ — it now resembles a deepfake pornography website, and a one-way broadcast system for Musk himself,” the letter said.
The signatories also called on the European Commission to stop using X as an official communication channel.
“The European Commission and national governments should not communicate on a platform where women cannot participate in the debate without risking image-based sexual violence,” they said.
During a plenary debate in the European Parliament on Thursday, lawmakers pressed for tougher enforcement of the EU’s digital rules and insisted the Commission should not give in to pressure from the United States, whether from major technology companies or directly from the White House.
Addressing the Parliament, Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, described deepfakes as a form of “digital violence” and said the EU must ensure online spaces “remain a secure space.”
“We need to co-ordinate a stronger enforcement of our existing rules across different platforms, providers and deployers of AI systems and AI models,” she said.
Virkkunen acknowledged that stricter regulation could further strain relations with Washington, as US Republican lawmakers have criticised EU digital rules as “outright regulatory imperialism.” She added that the Commission is prepared to consider strengthening the EU’s AI Act in response to the Grok controversy.
“We will consider whether explicit prohibitions are needed in the AI Act,” she told MEPs.
The growing confrontation between EU lawmakers and X, along with other US-based social media platforms, comes at a time of deteriorating transatlantic relations, driven in part by mounting concern in Europe over dependence on American technology companies.
