Overview
- xAI filed the federal suit on Tuesday in Texas naming Terry Wayne Harwood and accusing him of using Grok to alter non-sexual photos and generate child sexual abuse material in violation of its terms of service.
- Harwood was arrested in February on felony charges for possessing and distributing CSAM and faces separate criminal prosecution in South Carolina.
- The complaint alleges Harwood opened multiple accounts, used false identities, and repeatedly tried to work around Grok’s moderation by submitting altered prompts until the tool produced explicit images.
- xAI asked the court for unspecified monetary damages and a permanent court order blocking Harwood from using Grok, and it framed the lawsuit as a response to the harm done to victims and the company’s legal and reputational exposure.
- xAI’s filing quantifies its 2026 enforcement actions—52,222 suspended accounts, 73,604 reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and at least 244 arrests—and follows earlier criticism that Grok’s 'spicy' mode and new image-editing features led to a surge in sexualized deepfakes, including complaints from teenagers who sued the company in March.