Indonesia and Malaysia have temporarily blocked access to xAI’s chatbot Grok, marking the strongest government action so far against the AI tool after a surge of sexualized AI-generated images.
In a statement shared with international media, Indonesia’s communications and digital minister Meutya Hafid said the government views non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and public safety, adding that X officials have been summoned for discussions. Malaysia announced a similar ban shortly afterward, according to The New York Times.
Elsewhere, regulators are weighing their own responses. India’s IT ministry ordered X to take steps to prevent Grok from generating obscene content, while the European Commission has instructed xAI to retain all internal documents related to the chatbot — a move that could precede a formal investigation under the Digital Services Act. In the U.K., media regulator Ofcom said it is conducting a rapid compliance assessment, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer signaling support for enforcement action.
xAI initially issued a public apology and later restricted Grok’s image-generation features to paying X subscribers, though the standalone Grok app remains unaffected. The growing international backlash underscores mounting pressure on AI platforms to tighten safeguards, especially as regulators increasingly scrutinize generative tools that scale rapidly across borders — a trend also reflected in recent EU data-retention orders and broader calls for stricter oversight of AI-driven content and distribution.
