xAI Seeks to Force Deepfake Victims to Disclose Identities in Legal Battle

Summary

xAI has filed court motions requesting that four pseudonymous plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit reveal their real identities, arguing there is public interest in knowing who is suing the company. The plaintiffs, identified in court documents as South Carolina Doe, South Carolina Roe, New Jersey Doe, and Ohio Doe, initially received court approval to use pseudonyms to protect their privacy and prevent further harassment. xAI's lawyers contend that since the deepfake images will remain sealed under court order, there are no compelling privacy interests requiring anonymity.

The lawsuit stems from widespread abuse of Grok in January 2026, when the AI chatbot was used to generate non-consensual sexual images of women and girls. According to analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, approximately 3 million sexualized images were created over just 11 days, with an estimated 23,000 potentially depicting minors. The incident sparked global outrage, multiple lawsuits, and regulatory scrutiny worldwide.

The victims' legal team argues that xAI is attempting to intimidate plaintiffs into dropping the case by compelling public disclosure, thereby compounding the harms they already suffered. They emphasize that forced identification could expose survivors to doxing, targeted harassment, and further victimization. SpaceX, which acquired xAI, has allocated over $500 million to address the legal and reputational fallout from the Grok deepfake scandal.

• SpaceX has set aside over $500 million to address legal liability from the Grok deepfake abuse