Poland signals possible future shutdown of X over antisemitic chatbot posts

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski has not ruled out the possibility of shutting down access to Elon Musk’s social media platform X, following a series of antisemitic and abusive posts generated by its AI chatbot, Grok.

During an interview with Polish broadcaster RMF 24 on the morning of July 9, Gawkowski – who also serves as the Minister of Digital Affairs – expressed strong condemnation of the situation on the platform, Caliber.Az reports, citing Euractiv.

“I am disgusted by what is happening on Elon Musk's social media platform,” he said, referring to recent reports of Grok producing antisemitic remarks and abusive comments directed at Poland’s Prime Minister.

The Financial Times reported that Grok appeared to praise Adolf Hitler, while Reuters noted that several posts suspected of containing antisemitic hate speech were taken down overnight. In a post on Grok’s official X account, Musk’s company confirmed it was addressing the issue: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.”

When asked whether Poland might consider banning the platform, Gawkowski said he would "consider such possibilities" and that he is "not ruling anything out," according to a translated interview transcript published by Euractiv.

Musk’s X platform has been under investigation by the European Commission since December 2023 under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). In July last year, the Commission issued a preliminary breach finding, though no penalties have yet been imposed.

The DSA allows for fines of up to 6% of a company’s global annual turnover. In more severe cases, the regulation also enables EU authorities to temporarily block access to platforms found to be in serious breach.

Gawkowski stated that he intends to report Grok’s actions to the Commission to determine whether a new DSA violation has occurred. “These posts that are on X, generated by algorithms... are the decision-making of platforms,” he said, suggesting the incident could lead to future enforcement measures.

He also questioned the sufficiency of current digital regulations, saying, “We need to have legal capacity, but also decision-making, regarding at least that these platforms will be shut down.”

At present, Poland is not planning to block access to X. However, Gawkowski cautioned: “I am responding about the future, which is worth anticipating.”

A European Commission spokesperson responded to the incident by telling Euractiv that the EU “takes the risks related to Generative AI, including chatbots, very seriously.”

By Sabina Mammadli