A coalition of women’s rights groups and child safety advocates has asked Apple and Google to take down X and its chatbot, Grok, over cases in which the tools are being used to generate sexually explicit and abusive content.
The alliance of women’s rights groups, parent advocates and political organisations are accusing the Elon Musk-owned services of breaching app store regulations and exposing women and children to abuse.
In the open letters released on Wednesday, the campaigners say the apps are being used to generate illegal and degrading material at scale.
At the centre of the campaign are groups including UltraViolet, the National Organisation for Women, MoveOn and ParentsTogether Action. They argue that the continued availability of X and Grok on app stores gives legitimacy to tools that are being misused to create sexualised images without consent.
“We are really imploring Apple and Google to take this extremely seriously,” Jenna Sherman, UltraViolet’s campaign director, said ahead of the letters’ publication. “They are enabling a system in which thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people, particularly women and children, are being sexually abused through the help of their own app stores.”
The issue got worse after X was flooded around the new year with highly realistic images of women and minors, many of them sexualised. While X later adjusted Grok so that images it creates or edits are not automatically shared publicly, tests carried out this week showed the chatbot could still generate bikini-clad versions of people’s photos on request.
Outside the United States, regulators from Malaysia and Indonesia became the first countries to ban Grok in January 2026 due to the creation of sexually explicit and non-consensual images.
In Europe, the Commission has ordered X to preserve Grok-related records until the end of 2026 as part of an investigation under the Digital Services Act. Authorities in the UK and several other countries have also demanded explanations over how the tool is being used.
Whereas, in Washington, three Democratic senators have written to Apple and Google, urging them to remove X and Grok from their app stores and warning of the risks they project on women and children if the apps remain available.
Some organisations are no longer waiting for regulators or tech firms to decide. This week, the American Federation of Teachers announced it was leaving X, calling Grok’s Al-generated child images “the last straw.” For campaigners, that decision is being held up as proof that the issue has crossed a line.
Responses from the companies involved have been limited. X did not reply to requests for comment. Its parent company, xAI, responded to criticism with the words, “Legacy Media Lies.” Apple and Google have also declined to comment publicly, despite repeated requests.
Sherman said the moment is a test of credibility for the app store operators. While both companies usually stress their commitment to child safety, she argued that their handling of X and Grok would show “what their values actually are in practice.”
