European nations investigate AI-generated child sexual abuse images on social media
Spain, Britain and Ireland have opened formal investigations into Meta, X and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse images. The regulatory actions reflect growing pressure on social media companies over child safety concerns across multiple European countries.
What happened
Spain on Tuesday ordered prosecutors to investigate Facebook owner Meta, X and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual images, after a similar move in Britain.
Ireland also opened a formal probe of X's AI chatbot Grok over its processing of personal data and the production of harmful sexualized images.
Governance controls
Under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which took effect in 2024, major platforms face fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover if they fail to curb illegal or harmful content.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.