Elon Musk’s AI company that runs X chatbot Grok has quietly moved its official European point of contact for users to Estonia – to a building whose owner says it has no contract with the company or its representatives.
The company xAI, set up by Musk to challenge rivals like OpenAI, operates the controversial Grok chatbot embedded in X. It added an Estonian address to its terms of service in mid-February, historical versions of its website show.
This came just weeks after the European Commission opened a major investigation into X over concerns that Grok could be used to generate illegal content, specifically child sexual abuse material.
-
Bureau BrusselsInsights from our EU specialists and news from the Brussels bubble.
In apparent response to the Commission’s probe, xAI swiftly updated its terms of service: it appointed European Digital Services Representatives (EDSR) – a Brussels-based legal firm for non-EU companies – as its new legal point of contact for matters related to the bloc’s online safety laws, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
EDSR, which also lists messaging service Telegram among its clients, is co-owned by Olivier Willocx, a liberal politician in the Brussels regional parliament.
However, the Estonian office appears to be not an address of an office. Despite the address being listed in xAI’s terms, EDSR has no registered presence there.
A local reporter with partner media Eesti Ekspress confirmed that there are no actual EDSR or xAI offices or subsidiaries in the Baltic country’s company register.
There also doesn’t appear to be an office in the building with the number 35. There is a mailbox with that number in the lobby.
But the company that owns the building said it did not rent out mailboxes to firms that had no office in the building. Management director Gerly Kreek told Eesti Ekspress further said that it has no rental agreement with either xAI or EDSR. Number 35, listed as point of contact by xAI, was a locked room in the basement, Kreek said. “This space is not leased out for business purposes and is not used as a mailing address,” she said. “The company has listed this address as its contact address for reasons unknown to us.”
The building used as xAI’s new registered address
© Eesti Ekspress
Our journalism is only possible thanks to the trust of our paying members. Not a member yet? Sign up now
The company that owns the building said that it has no rental agreement with either xAI or EDSR. Management director Gerly Kreek told Eesti Ekspress that office number 35, listed as point of contact by xAI, was a locked room in the basement. “This space is not leased out for business purposes and is not used as a mailing address,” she said. “The company has listed this address as its contact address for reasons unknown to us.”
Another business also lists an address in the building. That business retains the services of ClevverMail, a Berlin-based company, to forward mail. Yet, the building’s owner says it has no business arrangement with Clevver – how, exactly, EDSR’s post may be forwarded remains unknown.
Neither xAI nor EDSR responded to repeated requests for comment.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier stressed that switching points of contact “does not affect the Commission’s investigation into Grok”.
Experts FTM spoke with appear puzzled by xAI’s move.
That’s because, said DSA expert Joris van Hoboken, a legal scholar at the University of Amsterdam, the company wouldn’t gain any advantages for the Commission investigation into Grok.
“I don’t expect it will ultimately help the firm to try to make it harder to communicate [with its representatives],” he said.