Indonesia has temporarily blocked access to the chatbot, becoming the first country to block access to the xAI-owned chatbot, as per a report by Reuters. The action by the Indonesian government comes after the chatbot was used by thousands of users online to recreate images of women, and sometimes children, without clothes.
Indonesia's Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid, in a statement quoted by Reuters, said, “The government views the practice of non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital space.”
The ministry took the decision while citing the need to protect women, children and the public at large from the psychological and social harms of AI-generated explicit content, according to Indonesia-based Antara News.
She also went on to categorise Grok's use for generating sexualised images as a form of “digital-based violence.”
Reportedly, the Indonesian government has also issued formal summons to X officials, who will now be required to provide clarification and explain the negative impacts of Grok's current configuration.
The company will have to demonstrate compliance with Indonesian laws by presenting concrete technical steps it is taking in order to prevent future misuse.
The minister also noted that while Grok is temporarily blocked in Indonesia, the future of the AI chatbot in the country will depend on the platform's willingness to implement strict content filters and ethical AI standards.
What did Elon Musk say about Grok's AI misuse?
Musk and xAI had both warned users last week about misusing the chatbot for illegal purposes, stating that it could land them in legal trouble.
“Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” Musk had said in a post on X.
Meanwhile, the billionaire appeared to change his tone after a barrage of criticism over the platform's inability to regulate the generation of deepfake images. Musk reposted a post by a sympathiser on Saturday, who stated that X should not be blamed for the deepfake images generated and that the blame must lie with users.
Three US Senators have also penned a letter to Google and Apple asking them to remove the Grok and X apps from their respective App Stores over violations of their terms, which explicitly forbid the creation of sexualised images.
“We write to ask that you enforce your app stores’ terms of service against X Corp’s X and Grok apps for their mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children. X’s generation of these harmful and likely illegal depictions of women and children has shown complete disregard for your stores’ distribution terms,” the senators said in their open letter.
