A California federal judge has ruled that X's forum-selection clause is unenforceable in a lawsuit alleging its Grok AI tool lets users create non-consensual explicit images of real people. The plaintiffs, who say they were victims of such altered photos, sued in the Northern District of California. X moved to transfer the case to the Northern District of Texas, pointing to its terms of service that require users to litigate disputes exclusively in Tarrant County, Texas.
Judge Casey Pitts applied California law and found the clause unconscionable on both procedural and substantive grounds. Procedurally, the court noted that X presented the terms on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, leaving users no meaningful choice, and that the forum-selection provision was hidden in a prolix printed form. Substantively, the judge emphasized the clause's one-sidedness: while users must sue in Texas, X may sue users in any competent court in the user's own country of residence. The court found no business justification for that asymmetry.
Because the clause was both procedurally and substantively unconscionable, the court denied the motion to transfer. The ruling allows the suit over the alleged deepfake imagery to proceed in California, at least for now.