For creators and artists grappling with the rise of generative abuse, the legal battle surrounding xAI’s Grok model highlights a stark choice: maintain anonymity to protect yourself from doxing and retaliation, or reveal your identity to proceed with a lawsuit. The tech giant is actively pushing courts to strip victims of pseudonyms, a move critics argue is designed to intimidate claimants into dropping their cases by amplifying the very harms they seek to remedy.
The Legal Front
On May 29, xAI filed motions in a US District Court for the Northern District of California requesting the public unmasking of four individuals who allegedly had sexualised deepfakes generated of them using Grok. The filings reveal that one plaintiff was targeted with imagery depicting them as a child.
The four primary claimants, currently listed as South Carolina Doe, South Carolina Roe, New Jersey Doe, and Ohio Doe, submitted affidavits detailing the emotional trauma inflicted by the non-consensual imagery created earlier this year. They argue that being forced to use their real names exposes them to further online harassment and doxing. Their legal team contends that xAI is attempting to reverse a previous ruling, suggesting the company views the abuse as trivial.
“Having stripped them of their clothes, xAI now seeks to strip Plaintiffs of their pseudonyms in an obvious effort to intimidate Plaintiffs into dropping the litigation by compounding the same harms that they seek to remedy,” Sophia Rios, a lawyer representing the individuals for legal firm Berger Montague, wrote in a recent filing.
Rios told WIRED she could not comment beyond the contents of the filings. The case stems from a wave of outrage in January, when users of the Musk-owned Grok chatbot generated millions of fake images of women “undressed” and in bikinis. Analysis from the Center for Countering Digital Hate indicated Grok produced approximately 3 million sexualised images in just 11 days, with 23,000 potentially involving children. Facing global regulatory pressure and lawsuits, SpaceX, which owns xAI, has allocated more than $500 million to manage the fallout.
Why Anonymity Matters
The class-action suit was initially filed in January with a single lead claimant who was granted the right to remain a Jane Doe. The case was refiled in May with four main plaintiffs, one of whom became South Carolina Doe. The plaintiffs stated they would disclose their names and personal data to the company but required pseudonyms in public records to prevent being linked to the images and to reduce the risk of online harassment.
Crucially, none of the deepfake images were included in public legal filings. In May, xAI filed two motions arguing that civil court laws require all parties to be named, citing a public interest in the identities of those suing the company. Their lawyers claimed there was no evidence of specific further harm or threats to the individuals and argued that because the images would remain sealed, privacy concerns should be allayed.
“Factoring out the deepfake image itself—as it will remain under seal—there is nothing inherently stigmatizing about revealing the fact that a deepfake image was created of South Carolina Doe without revealing the image itself,” the lawyers wrote in a May 15 filing. They concluded that the case does not involve the compelling privacy interests that traditionally justify pseudonymity.
Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law specialising in digital abuse, warns that forcing plaintiffs to use their real names can deter litigation and create an unjust situation. “Forcing plaintiffs in privacy suits to sue in their names does so little for judicial transparency and so much to deter litigation,” Citron told WIRED. Neither xAI nor its legal representatives responded to requests for comment.
Voices from the Victims
All four plaintiffs indicated in filings on May 29 that they would consider withdrawing from the proceedings if their identities were revealed. They describe the deepfakes as highly personal and embarrassing depictions disseminated without consent.
South Carolina Doe recounted finding a deepfake of themselves “stripped down to a revealing bikini” online, noting it portrayed their body in a manner they would never share publicly. They expressed fear that employers or colleagues might see the image and worry about further online targeting. “I was also overcome with disgust at the thought of what the individual who had asked Grok to create the deepfake was doing with the photo,” the filing states. They added that revealing their name could allow Musk supporters to find their identity, dox them, and retaliate with more extreme deepfakes.
South Carolina Roe alleges Grok was used to create explicit images of her as a child. In February, police searched her home, which she shares with her parents. She learned her father was facing criminal charges related to the possession and distribution of CSAM. Roe stated that Grok altered images depicting her in bed with her father to appear as if they had just consummated a sexual act, though she has not seen the images herself. She described being “distraught” by the lack of control over the deepfakes and fears predators may share them online.
New Jersey Doe, a male plaintiff, reported seeing users on X request Grok not to create images of him without consent. The next day, he discovered two deepfake images of himself, including one depicting him “spreading his butt cheeks.” He believed his request brought his account to the attention of online trolls using Grok to harass him.
Key takeaways
- xAI is actively seeking to remove pseudonyms from a class-action lawsuit involving deepfake victims, arguing that public interest in the plaintiffs’ identities outweighs privacy concerns.
- Victims argue that revealing their names would expose them to doxing, retaliation from Musk supporters, and further psychological harm, potentially forcing them to drop the case.
- The lawsuit highlights the tension between judicial transparency and the severe privacy risks faced by victims of non-consensual deepfake imagery.
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