Judge Allows Minnesota's Nudify App Ban to Take Effect Despite xAI Lawsuit

A federal judge has denied xAI's request to block Minnesota's ban on 'nudify' apps, allowing the law to take effect as scheduled on August 1. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank ruled that xAI's lawsuit, filed on July 29, 2026, came too late to justify a temporary restraining order, noting the delay of nearly three months after the law was signed suggested the harm was not immediate. The ban, the first of its kind in the United States, prohibits apps that use AI to create non-consensual sexualized images. xAI, which is part of SpaceX along with Elon Musk's social media platform X, argued the law is 'overinclusive' and that less restrictive alternatives exist. The lawsuit will continue, but the law can now be enforced. The controversy stems from earlier this year when users of xAI's Grok chatbot on X generated and spread such images, prompting investigations and bans.