London — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday that he wants "all options to be on the table," including a potential ban on Elon Musk's X platform in Britain, over the use of its artificial intelligence tool Grok to generate sexualized images of people without their consent. 

Starmer's remarks come as Musk's platform faces scrutiny from regulators across the globe over Grok's image editing tool, which has allowed users to create digitally altered, sexualized photos of real people, including minors.

"This is disgraceful, it's disgusting and it's not to be tolerated. X has got to get a grip of this," Starmer said in an interview with a U.K. radio station. "It's unlawful. We're not going to tolerate it. I've asked for all options to be on the table."

A source in Starmer's office reiterated to CBS News on Friday that "nothing is off the table" when it comes to regulating X in Britain.

CBS News has verified that Grok fulfilled user requests asking it to edit images of women to show them in bikinis or little clothing, including prominent public figures such as first lady Melania Trump.

Last week, Grok, a chatbot developed by Musk's company xAI, acknowledged "lapses in safeguards" that allowed users to generate digitally altered, sexualized photos of minors.

Grok told users that as of Friday, access to its image generation tool was limited "to paying subscribers" of its user verification service. Paying subscribers have to provide their credit card and personal details to the company, which could dissuade some people from using the service, especially if they had intended to use Grok's AI tool to create illegal images of minors.

xAI responded to a CBS News request for comment to criticism of Grok's image generation tool and steps it had taken to limit access to it on Friday, by saying: "Legacy media lies."

Addressing reporters on Friday morning, a U.K. government spokesperson called the move to limit access to Grok's image editing tool to paying users "insulting" to victims of misogyny and sexual violence, saying it, "simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service." 

Under the U.K. Online Safety Act, sharing intimate images without consent on social media is a criminal offense, and social media companies are required to proactively remove such content, as well as prevent it from appearing in the first place.

If they fail to do so, the companies can face hefty fines or, in last resort cases, face what would effectively be a ban by Britain's independent media regulator Ofcom. Ofcom can compel payment providers, advertisers and internet service providers to stop working with a site, preventing it from generating money or being accessed from the U.K.

In a post shared Monday on its own X account, Ofcom said it was "aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children."

"We have made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK. Based on their response we will undertake a swift assessment to determine whether there are potential compliance issues that warrant investigation," Ofcom said. 

Musk's platform has faced scrutiny from governments around the world, including the European Union and the U.S. Congress, over Grok AI's digital alteration of real images.

On Wednesday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in a post on X that "many of the recent AI-generated posts are unacceptable and a clear violation of my legislation — now law — the Take It Down Act, as well as X's terms and conditions."

"These unlawful images pose a serious threat to victims' privacy and dignity. They should be taken down and guardrails should be put in place," Cruz said, adding that he was encouraged by steps taken by X to remove unlawful images.

On Thursday, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, threatened to sanction the U.K. government if Starmer moved to ban X in the U.K. 

"If Starmer is successful in banning @X in Britain, I will move forward with legislation that is currently being drafted to sanction not only Starmer, but Britain as a whole," Paulina Luna said in a post on her own X account.