Only X users paying Musk can now digitally undress women using Grok

X has quietly changed how its Grok AI works, and the new restriction might sound like progress at first glance. As of Friday morning, only paying subscribers can use Grok’s image editing features to alter photos posted on the platform, as reported by The Guardian.

That means anyone wanting to digitally undress women or create deepfakes now needs to hand over their name and payment information to access those tools.

The shift comes after weeks of mounting pressure. The UK government told regulator Ofcom to consider all options, including an effective ban, after the Internet Watch Foundation discovered criminal imagery of girls aged 11 to 13 that appeared to be created using Grok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation “disgraceful” and “disgusting,” telling X to “get a grip on this”.

When you tag Grok in a post now asking it to edit images, the AI responds that “image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers” and suggests you subscribe to unlock the features.

Only users with the blue verification tick exclusive to X’s paid tiers can successfully request image edits. Non-subscribers can still use Grok for image editing through its separate app and website, though.

Many women have celebrated the change as a victory. Some who previously saw increases in people using Grok to undress them view this as a step forward for women’s dignity and safety.

But here’s the problem with framing this as a win: X is essentially saying that people who pay them can still get away with digitally undressing women in public threads. The company is letting users who hand over subscription fees continue to mess with women publicly.

What X should have done is restrict Grok’s ability to modify human subjects in public threads entirely. Or better yet, implement the toggle solution we reported on earlier that would let people stop Grok from generating AI images under their posts. Instead, they chose a half measure that keeps the revenue flowing while technically reducing access.

To be fair, the move does mean a huge chunk of users can no longer access these capabilities. That’s genuinely good news for women worldwide. But X should go further. Let people use Grok privately if they want, much like Photoshop or pencil drawings. Giving easy public access right under posts where victims can see remains a questionable choice, paid or not.

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