Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has defended X (formerly Twitter) amid the Grok scandal, which allowed the creation of sexualized images of real people, including minors. After that, US lawmakers called on Apple and Google to block the app from their stores.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has defended X (formerly Twitter) amid the Grok scandal, which allowed the creation of sexualized images of real people, including minors. After that, US lawmakers called on Apple and Google to block the app from their stores.
According to PCGamer, Sweeney wrote in X that «open platforms» are needed to stop demands to «censor political opponents,» and called selective pressure on an opponent’s company «crony capitalism.» He added that compliance issues are common in all major AIs, but that this is no reason to demand selective blocking through «gatekeepers.»
All major AIs have documented instances of going off the rails; all major AI companies make their best efforts to combat this; none are perfect. Politicians demanding gatekeepers selectively crush the one that’s their political opponent’s company is basic crony capitalism.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 9, 2026
Representatives of the gaming media have publicly reacted to such statements. Editor Patrick Klepek (Remap) denied that the problem can be attributed to a «typical failure»: in his opinion, we are talking about risks of a different scale, and Sweeney’s position does not fit well with the fact that Epic makes money on products for a young audience.
The article also notes that after a wave of criticism, X limited the generation of Grok images in replies to posts, hiding the feature behind a paid subscription. At the same time, the discussion about the platform’s responsibility and the role of app stores in content moderation has only intensified.
The Grok story overlapped with a parallel controversy over platform «limits»: in December, Epic Games Store, following Steam, removed the art game Horses after pressure from activists on payment companies. This became an argument for critics, who say that appeals to «openness» sound unconvincing when their own platforms also apply restrictions.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated that Steam and other game stores should abandon the «Created with AI» label. He believes that it will soon lose relevance, as most games will be created using this technology.
