Advocacy Groups Urge Tech Giants to Remove X from App Stores

A coalition of 28 advocacy groups, including women’s organizations and tech watchdogs, has sent an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding that they remove the social media app X from their app stores due to its proliferation of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes. These images have been found on the platform and are in direct violation of both companies’ policies. The groups are calling on the CEOs to take action against X, citing its role in creating mass amounts of explicit content, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), a criminal offense that is also banned by Apple’s App Review Guidelines. Despite this, the app remains available for download on both platforms. In response, advocacy groups are urging Cook and Pichai to take decisive action against X and its parent company xAI, insisting that they have a responsibility to protect users from such content. The groups hope that their letters will prompt the CEOs to “grow spines” and remove the app from their stores. The move comes as concerns over online safety and content moderation continue to grow, with many calling for greater accountability from tech giants in policing their platforms for explicit and exploitative material.