Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Matt Storey is quitting social media channel X – formerly known as Twitter.
The move follows reports the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, has been used to create and share sexualised images of children and women.
Matt’s decision follows growing concern about the platform’s failure to prevent harmful content being generated and shared. This includes child sexual abuse material and deepfake imagery, which features women.
Improving safety for women and girls is one of Matt’s six key priorities in the Police and Crime Plan.
Recent activity has included support for the nationwide White Ribbon campaign and involvement in the one in three emergency summit aimed at tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG.)
Undermining commitment
Matt said: “I feel posting regularly on X would undermine my commitment to combatting VAWG.
“From today, I will no longer post on X. The recent revelations that its AI chatbot, Grok, has been used to create and share sexualized images of children and women without their consent has hastened this decision.
“As PCC, protecting women, girls and vulnerable members of our community are among my highest priorities.
“I have considered leaving X for some time due to the platform’s failure to tackle misinformation, harmful algorithms and unwillingness to tackle abuse.
“I cannot, and will not, remain on a platform that enables or tolerates such abuse. It is a failure of responsibility.
“Safeguarding children and women should never be optional – it is a fundamental duty. X must act now to strengthen safeguards, stop non-consensual and exploitative content, and comply fully with child protection laws. Anything less than urgent, decisive action to stop this exploitation is unacceptable.
“From today, my X account will remain inactive and will only be used in the event of a major incident.”
Matt and his team will remain active on other social media channels – namely, Linked in, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram
Ofcom has launched a formal investigation under the Online Safety Act. The regulator will examine whether X breached its legal duties to protect users and prevent the spread of such material, with potential penalties including fines of up to 10% of global turnover or access restrictions.
In the past 24 hours, X has said it has imposed restrictions on users editing images using the Grok Ai tool.