The European Commission is expected to open formal proceedings against Grok on Monday under the Digital Services Act (DSA), according to a report by Germany’s Handelsblatt, which cited three senior EU officials familiar with the matter. The move would mark a significant step in the EU’s efforts to enforce its landmark legislation aimed at curbing harmful content and strengthening accountability among large online platforms and digital services.
Under the DSA, the Commission has broad powers to investigate services it believes may pose systemic risks to users or fail to comply with obligations on transparency, content moderation, and risk mitigation. In this case, the proceedings are reportedly designed to increase pressure on xAI, the company behind Grok, to withdraw the chatbot from the European Union altogether.
If confirmed, the action would underscore the increasingly tense relationship between EU regulators and companies linked to Musk, who also owns social media platform X. Brussels has already taken a hard line on enforcement of its digital rulebook, signalling that even high-profile technology firms will not be exempt from scrutiny.
Neither the European Commission nor xAI has publicly commented on the reported plans. However, the potential proceedings highlight how quickly AI tools are being pulled into the EU’s regulatory framework, even as the technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace.
The case could set an important precedent for how generative AI systems are treated under existing EU law, particularly ahead of the bloc’s forthcoming AI Act, which is expected to impose additional obligations on developers and deployers of artificial intelligence across Europe.