ADDS REMARKS FROM PREMIER
By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday he has been told that tech billionaire Elon Musk's X social media company is taking steps to ensure full compliance with UK law.
"I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law. If so, that is welcome, but we’re not going to back down. They must act," Starmer told the weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.
He added that the government would take further action if necessary.
"We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further, and Ofcom will continue its independent investigation," he said.
The UK’s online safety regulator Ofcom on Monday opened a formal investigation into X over concerns that the platform's AI tool Grok is being used to create sexualized imagery.
The watchdog will examine whether X has failed to meet several key obligations under the Online Safety Act.
These include whether the platform has properly assessed the risk of UK users encountering illegal content, and whether it carried out updated risk assessments before making significant changes to its service.
- UK plans additional sanctions against Iran
Starmer also condemned the murder of protesters in Iran.
There are no official casualty figures, but the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a US-based rights group, estimates that more than 2,500 people have been killed, including security forces and protesters, and more than 1,100 others injured.
The group also said more than 18,000 have been detained, though these figures have not been independently verified and differ from other estimates.
"The contrast between the courage of the people and the brutality of their desperate regimes has never been clearer. We're working with allies on further sanctions on Iran, and doing all we can to protect UK nationals," said Starmer.
Starmer and Conservative minister Kemi Badenoch also clashed about government policy changes on mandatory digital IDs and farmland inheritance tax.
Badenoch welcomed the "latest U-turn" after the government dropped plans requiring workers to sign up to its digital ID scheme to prove their right to work in the UK, saying the plan was "rubbish."
Starmer insisted he is determined to make it harder for people to work illegally and maintained that there will be mandatory ID checks.
Badenoch also highlighted a series of policies she said Starmer "didn't get right first time," pointing to the government’s watering down plans to apply inheritance tax to farms.