Forget Greenland. Trump now threatens Britain over crackdown on Musk's AI porn without consent
Greenland remains a lively topic in world politics. Donald Trump has never completely abandoned his former idea of "buying" the island, and people in his circle repeatedly return to it - as a symbol of a new, confident, imperial America. While the world is still absorbing the fact that there are serious discussions about moving the map's borders, the United States is already opening another front. This time not in the Arctic, but in digital space.
The United Kingdom has become the target. This is due to the decision of the British authorities to crack down on the X platform and its chatbot Grok, which has started to create sexualized images of people on a large scale without their consent. Over the holidays, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence flooded the net with eroticized images of women - and in some cases children - generated from simple text inputs. London called it a new type of digital violence and launched an investigation.
A technical problem turned into a political conflict within days. Britain is talking about protecting victims and holding technology companies accountable. The United States, on the other hand, warns of an attack on freedom of expression and hints at retaliation. And in the middle stands Elon Musk - the man whose algorithm has turned human intimacy into a mass product.
When a chatbot becomes an erotic factory
An investigation by WIRED magazine found that Grok was able to create ninety images of women in bikinis or partially clothed poses in five minutes. Users quickly found a way around the inhibitions: instead of "naked women", they typed in terms like "see-through bikini" or "string bikini". The result was virtually identical.
The difference from earlier generators is substantial. Grok is free, mass-market and directly connected to a social network with millions of users. The content generated is thus instantly disseminated through the public domain - often without the knowledge or consent of the people who are mimicked in the images.
Britain Says Enough
While US institutions have long been on the fence, other countries are already taking action. Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok. The UK is going a different route: launching an investigation.
The regulator Ofcom is to examine whether Company X has broken online safety laws, which now make it illegal to create intimate images without consent. If Musk's company doesn't cooperate, the British government may also intervene economically - for example, by restricting access to advertisers or payment services.
Elon Musk is responding in his own way. He has moved the image-generation function into the paid tier and made problematic content a premium service. Instead of solving the problem, he monetized it.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it an insult to the victims. "He is merely turning a feature that allows illegal images to be generated into a premium product," his spokesman said.
Musk responded with a provocation: he posted a faux image of Starmer himself in a bikini. A symbolic mockery not only of the British government, but of the very idea that technological power should have limits.
America on the side of the algorithm
And that's when the United States stepped in. The State Department responded to the British move with ironic detachment: 'From the American perspective, nothing is off limits in the area of free speech.'
Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna is already talking about drafting legislation that would punish the UK if it restricts Platform X. In a country where the term "freedom" is often used as a universal shield against any regulation, protecting victims suddenly seems like a dangerous precedent.
Musk, meanwhile, has once again moved closer to Trump. The two were spotted at a dinner at Mar-a-Lago this month. The administration, which is investing massively in AI with the backing of tech oligarchs, is pushing for its "unlimited growth". Concerns about the impact on the labour market or the social contract are set aside. The president has even issued an executive order aimed at limiting government regulation of the technology.
From cancer cure to fantasy factory
Just a few years ago, artificial intelligence was portrayed as a tool that could cure diseases, optimize the world and move humanity forward. Today, its practical applications often revolve around trivialities - and increasingly around pornography.
The Economist has already written about how AI is turning the adult industry on its head. ChatGPT is set to offer an "adult mode" in 2026. Banks are being pushed to ease restrictions on pornography platforms. And more than half of US artist visas now go to online sex industry content creators.
This is not about morality. It's about consent. It's about the line between what a person chooses to do and what someone else generates about them and puts on display for the world to see. Britain is trying to name that line. America pretends it doesn't exist.
So Greenland can breathe a sigh of relief. The empire's attention has shifted. But the dispute between London and Washington today is really about something deeper: whether technological power will have limits. Or whether even intimacy will become just another resource for algorithms and their owners.
