The controversy surrounding Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot has escalated, with Indonesia and Malaysia imposing temporary bans on the AI service over the generation of non-consensual and sexually explicit images.
The chatbot, developed by xAI and integrated into X, has faced growing criticism after users reported a surge in sexualised AI-generated imagery. In several cases, the content reportedly depicted real women and minors and sometimes included violent elements, often appearing in response to user prompts on X.
Indonesia’s Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said the government considers non-consensual sexual deepfakes a serious violation of human rights and personal dignity in the digital space. In comments shared with The Guardian and other media outlets, she stressed that such content crosses legal and ethical boundaries. The ministry has also summoned officials from X for further discussions on the issue.
Read: xAI Restricts Grok Image Generation to Paid Users After Misuse Backlash
Other governments have reacted with heightened scrutiny. In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has directed X to take action against Grok for generating obscene content. The European Commission has requested that the company preserve all documents related to Grok, signalling the opening of a formal investigation.
Indonesia and Malaysia restricted access to Elon Musk’s Grok AI over the weekend, becoming the first countries to ban the artificial intelligence system over its generation of sexual content https://t.co/EnOcSLLZxD
— Bloomberg (@business) January 11, 2026In the United Kingdom, the communications regulator Ofcom said it is assessing whether compliance failures justify further action. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has publicly backed Ofcom’s approach.
In contrast, the US administration under Donald Trump has remained silent. This comes despite Democratic senators urging Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores over the issue.
Facing mounting pressure, xAI acknowledged that a Grok-generated post violated ethical standards. The company has since restricted AI image generation on X to paying subscribers. However, the standalone Grok app still allows image generation without similar limits, raising further questions about oversight and enforcement.
The growing international response highlights intensifying global concern over AI misuse, particularly when it involves non-consensual and harmful content. Governments and regulators are now signalling that stricter accountability for AI platforms may be unavoidable.
