Centre issues notice to Elon Musk's X over obscene, sexually explicit content on Grok AI, warns of action if...

The central government on Friday issued a notice to Elon Musk's X over obscene and sexually explicit content on Grok AI. The Centre warned the platform to promptly take down all vulgar and illegal content, particularly material generated by its AI app, failing which it would face legal action.

The move comes amid massive outrage over obscene content on Grok AI. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also wrote to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, raising concerns about the alleged misuse of artificial intelligence tools on social media to share objectionable images of women through fake accounts.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a notice to X’s Chief Compliance Officer for its India operations, citing failure to comply with statutory due diligence requirements under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

"...X is hereby directed to...remove or disable access, without delay, to all content already generated or disseminated in violation of applicable laws, in strict compliance with the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021, without vitiating the evidence in any manner," the letter read.

The ministry has also requested an action-taken report calling for immediate compliance to prevent the hosting, creation, publication, transmission or sharing of obscene, nude, indecent and sexually explicit content through the misuse of AI-based services such as ‘Grok’.

The Centre also directed the platform to submit a detailed Action Taken Report (ATR) to the Ministry at the earliest and no later than 72 hours from the date of issuance of the notice.

The letter further directed X to ensure ongoing, demonstrable and auditable compliance with all due diligence obligations under the Information Technology Act and the IT Rules, 2021, warning that failure to do so could lead to appropriate action, including the loss of exemption from liability under Section 79 of the IT Act, along with consequential action under the IT Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and other applicable laws.

Grok AI feature row: What happened?

A troubling and alarming trend started a few days ago on X, with users exploiting the platform’s AI tool, Grok, to manipulate photos of women and children into sexually explicit images. The issue has sparked global outrage and renewed fears about AI-enabled sexual abuse.

Users reportedly issued direct prompts to Grok to alter images of women and children, creating abusive content that was then widely shared without consent, exposing victims to harassment, humiliation, and harm. Users worldwide have been pressuring Elon Musk to address the feature that enables such misuse. Although X has reportedly restricted Grok’s media functionality, the abuse continues, with images still being morphed, shared, and accessed on the platform.