According to the AI watchdog “AI Forensics”, men in particular have been using the AI chatbot “Grok” on Platform X since the turn of the year to create deceptively real nude pictures of women and children. In between: The latest from the Bundesliga.
Trigger warning: This text describes image-based sexual violence against women and children.
For those affected, it is a total loss of control: A new function allows all users to change even external images using AI. With the help of the chatbot “Grok”, women and minors can be undressed against their will. Thousands of such images appeared on X at the turn of the year. The prompt “@grok: Put her in a bikini” is enough to almost completely undress people. Sometimes they are posed in sexualized poses or shown as if their bodies are covered in ejaculate. The pictures look deceptively real.
Violent fantasies are also lived out openly. Deepfakes recently showed women with injuries and bleeding. Images of Renee Good, who was shot dead in her car by an ICE officer in Minnesota, were doctored with the help of Grok to show bullet holes in her face. Descendants of Holocaust survivors were put in front of the backdrop of the Auschwitz camp or in swastika bikinis. The list goes on.
Some clubs have left X
As early as 2025, some clubs in the 1st and 2nd leagues had stopped their activities on X. FC St. Pauli had already said goodbye to the platform in November 2024: “X has quickly transformed under Elon Musk into a platform in which disinformation, hate and propaganda are curated and promoted,” explains St. Pauli press spokesman Patrick Gensing. Musk also interferes in the election campaigns of other countries and spreads right-wing extremist conspiracy legends. “Overall, it is a highly toxic environment in which we as FC St. Pauli do not want to appear, which we do not want to give any relevance to and which does not help us at all,” said Gensing.
Other clubs remained. Especially high-reach clubs like FC Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen or Schalke. Few people wanted to answer why they continued to use the service. Sportschau.de asked all the clubs in the 1st and 2nd leagues that were still on X, as well as the DFB. “Platform BVB’s answer is similar: “The main reason is our general guiding principle in the social media context: Follow the fans. X offers us the opportunity to reach BVB fans worldwide in real time.”
Karolin Schwarz, author and expert on right-wing extremism and disinformation, counters this: “The fans are where their clubs are and where the clubs also offer added value,” she says. “Sports clubs help ensure that X continues to be used by producing content that ensures that fans interact with them, stay on the platform and thereby also consume advertising.” They also use this to finance X’s business model.
Clubs post content several times a day that their fans can interact with. But, Schwarz points out: “Sports clubs on X don’t exist in a vacuum.” Right-wing extremist content, disinformation and conspiracy ideologies have increased on X since Elon Musk took over. Musk himself distributes this content and actively gives it reach. This would not be without effect: “The constant repetition of this relevant content ensures that people become desensitized to hatred and dehumanization.” explains Black.
Great awareness of image-based abuse
How are the clubs dealing with the developments? What about photos of women such as players, officials, referees or fans that are also posted on the men’s team channels? Or with the women’s teams who have their own accounts there?
In general, all clubs that responded to the request are aware that the use of AI is increasingly leading to deepfakes and digital, image-based violence. Players receive support from their clubs, including from a legal perspective. Bayer Leverkusen describes the events in particular detail. Special contact persons are named there for such cases: “We take active action against the misuse of image material.” Paid protection mechanisms are also used in the Bayer Leverkusen social media team. The club has also decided on the paid model in order to be able to better manage content.
The problem still remains. Creating sexualized deepfakes is a serious infringement on a person’s privacy and sexual self-determination, explains Josephine Ballon, managing director of Hate Aid, in the Deutschlandfunk Nova podcast “Unboxing News”. The AI images once created are often still available on the Internet even after they have been deleted: “That means, in the worst case, this will accompany those affected for the rest of their lives,” explains Ballon. Those affected are afraid of being recognized on the street or at work and fear disadvantages when changing jobs or when looking for a partner.
Elon Musk defends himself against regulation
The problem is not just limited to X, says the DFB, which runs its own account for the women’s team there. Sexualized depictions on the internet are not a new development and affect all platforms, it is said. Karolin Schwarz also agrees with this. However, Platform
Grok is the chatbot from Elon Musk’s Platform X.
Great Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently spoke out clearly about the spread of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) and image-based sexual violence, calling them “disgraceful” and “disgusting”. The British government has announced that it will quickly introduce a law that will criminalize the non-consensual creation of intimate images. The British media regulator Ofcam is considering further measures against X, and a ban is also being discussed. The platform is no longer accessible in Malaysia and Indonesia. The EU has also threatened Musk with consequences.
Most recently, This turns sexual harassment into a business model.
St. Pauli uses alternatives
One club made it clear in its response: “VfB Stuttgart detests such forms of use and rejects sexism and discrimination in any form.” This has no consequences. It is said that developments are being monitored and the hope lies in possible regulation of the platform by the EU. Only Dynamo Dresden is planning to leave the platform, also due to the topic described.
A step that, in addition to St. Pauli, Werder Bremen and Borussia Mönchengladbach have already taken. Some have switched to Bluesky, the platform that currently comes closest to real-time communication on X. St. Pauli does not regret the change, also because the reach on Above all, the quality of contacts has increased again. In order to provide fans with direct and immediate information, the club has switched to WhatsApp.