Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.
The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticised for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children.
Regulators in the two Southeast Asian nations said existing controls were not preventing the creation and spread of fake pornographic content, particularly involving women and minors. Indonesia’s government temporarily blocked access to Grok on Sunday, followed by Malaysia on Monday.
"The government sees non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens in the digital space," Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement on Sunday.
The ministry said the measure was intended to protect women, children and the broader community from fake pornographic content generated using AI.
Initial findings showed that Grok lacked effective safeguards to stop users from creating and distributing pornographic content based on real photos of Indonesian residents, Alexander Sabar, director general of digital space supervision, said in a separate statement. He said such practices risked violating privacy and image rights when photos were manipulated or shared without consent, causing psychological, social and reputational harm.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ordered a temporary restriction on Grok on Monday after what it said was "repeated misuse" of the tool to generate obscene, sexually explicit and non-consensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors.
The regulator said notices issued this month to X Corp. and xAI demanding stronger safeguards drew responses that relied mainly on user reporting mechanisms.
"The restriction is imposed as a preventive and proportionate measure while legal and regulatory processes are ongoing," it said, adding that access would remain blocked until effective safeguards were put in place.
Launched in 2023, Grok was free to use on X. Users could ask it questions on the social media platform and tag posts they directly created or reply to posts from other users. Last summer, the company added an image generator feature, Grok Imagine, that included a so-called "spicy mode" that could generate adult content.
The Southeast Asian restrictions came amid mounting scrutiny of Grok elsewhere, including in the European Union, Britain, India and France. Grok last week limited image generation and editing to paying users following a global backlash over sexualised deepfakes of people, but critics said it did not fully address the problem.
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