Three U.S. Senators are asking Apple to temporarily remove X and its AI tool Grok from the App Store. They say the apps have allowed the mass creation of nonconsensual sexual images of women and children. They want the apps taken down while regulators investigate what they describe as serious and likely illegal activity.
The request centers on recent reports that users have used Grok to create sexualized images of real people without consent. According to the lawmakers, some of those images involve abuse, humiliation, and violence. In the most serious cases, they say the tool has generated sexualized images of children.
Senators Are Demanding
Senators Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, and Ben Ray Luján sent an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. They asked both companies to enforce their app store rules and remove the X and Grok apps “pending a full investigation.”
They wrote that X’s apps have shown “complete disregard” for app store policies by enabling “the mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children.” They added that Apple and Google “must remove these apps from the app stores until X’s policy violations are addressed.”
Apps Break App Store Rules
In their letter, the Senators pointed to both companies’ content policies. They said Google’s rules ban any content that enables the exploitation or abuse of children and allow “immediate removal” for violations. They also said Apple’s rules bar “offensive” content and explicitly prohibit material that is “overtly sexual or pornographic,” including content intended to stimulate erotic rather than emotional or aesthetic responses.
They argued that nonconsensual sexual images, especially of minors, clearly fall under these bans. “Turning a blind eye to X’s egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices,” the letter states.
Comparison to Past App Removals
The lawmakers also cited recent examples to show that Apple and Google can act quickly when pressured. They noted that both companies removed apps that let users report immigration enforcement activity after government complaints, even though those apps were not accused of hosting illegal content.
By contrast, they argue, Grok’s image generation involves harmful material. They said that if the companies had acted swiftly in those earlier cases, they should show the same urgency here.
The Senators asked Apple and Google to remove X and Grok at least temporarily while a full investigation takes place. They also requested a written response explaining how the companies are evaluating the apps under their existing policies.
They set a deadline of January 23, 2026 for that response. Until then, pressure remains on both app store operators to decide whether they will act on the lawmakers’ demands.
For now, the request puts Apple in the center of a growing debate over AI tools, platform responsibility, and how app stores police harmful content.
