In a significant move, social media giant X has taken down thousands of pieces of content and hundreds of accounts in India following a stern warning from the government over obscene material generated by its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Government sources confirmed on Sunday that the platform, owned by Elon Musk, admitted its mistake and assured compliance with local laws.
Government Crackdown and X's Response
The action comes after the Indian IT Ministry issued a directive to X on January 2, demanding the immediate removal of all vulgar, obscene, and unlawful content created using Grok. The ministry gave the US-based firm a 72-hour deadline to submit a detailed action taken report.
According to sources, X has now blocked approximately 3,500 pieces of content and deleted over 600 accounts that were involved in spreading the objectionable material. The platform has committed to not allowing such obscene imagery in the future and has promised to adhere to Indian regulations.
The government's notice highlighted that Grok AI, developed by X and integrated into its platform, was being misused to create fake accounts. These accounts were used to generate, publish, and share derogatory and vulgar images or videos of women, often through prompts and synthetic outputs.
Global Scrutiny and Legal Pressure
India's action is part of a wider international backlash against X and Grok. Governments worldwide, including in Europe and Asia, have raised alarms about the AI chatbot's potential for creating non-consensual sexually explicit images, often referred to as 'digital undressing'.
The UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, has made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand the steps taken to protect users. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the feature as "disgusting." Meanwhile, the European Commission has reportedly asked X to retain all documents related to Grok.
In the United States, three Democratic senators have called on Apple and Google to suspend X and Grok from their app stores for violating terms of service related to harmful content.
Compliance with Indian Law is Non-Negotiable
The Indian government made it explicitly clear to X that compliance with the IT Act and its rules is not optional. The safe harbour immunity provided to online intermediaries under Section 79 of the IT Act is conditional upon strict observance of due diligence obligations.
The ministry warned that any failure in due diligence would result in the loss of this legal protection, making the platform liable for action under the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The directive mandated X to enforce its user terms of service and AI usage restrictions, including suspending or terminating violating accounts.
Initially, X's response to the government's notice was seen as insufficient, merely reiterating its respect for Indian laws without providing specific takedown details or future prevention measures. This prompted the IT Ministry to demand a more concrete and detailed report, leading to the recent admission of error and the subsequent content purge.
X's official 'Safety' handle had previously stated that it takes action against illegal content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it and suspending accounts. The platform emphasized that "anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content directly."
The situation underscores the growing challenges global regulators face in moderating content generated by advanced AI tools and holding powerful tech platforms accountable for the misuse of their integrated technologies.
