Elon Musk's X Faces Backlash Over Grok AI Obscene Images, Vows Compliance with Indian Law
Social media giant X has admitted its mistake and committed to Indian law, moderating content and addressing concerns surrounding its Grok AI chatbot's generation of obscene imagery. This follows directives from the Indian IT Ministry and global calls for investigation, prompting X to implement stricter content policies and temporary feature limitations.
Billionaire Elon Musk-owned social media platform 'X', formerly known as Twitter, has admitted its mistake and stated its commitment to comply with Indian law. This development was reported by ANI on January 11, citing government sources, who further disclosed that approximately 3,500 pieces of content were blocked and over 600 accounts were deleted. Going forward, X will no longer permit obscene imagery on its platform, a significant policy shift in response to recent controversies.
The core of the issue stems from Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, which is integrated into the X social media site. Grok recently drew significant concerns over its capacity to generate obscene content. Consequently, on January 2, the Indian IT Ministry directed X to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene, and unlawful content, particularly that generated by Grok AI, warning of potential legal action if not complied with.
Government scrutiny intensified, with PTI reporting on January 7 that the Indian government had formally sought detailed information from X regarding the obscene content linked to its Grok AI. This request included an inquiry into the actions already taken and the preventive measures put in place to avert similar incidents in the future. Despite X making submissions to the IT ministry following the Centre's directive to crack down on the misuse of Grok for generating and sharing “sexualised and obscene” images of women, the Centre deemed the social media platform's earlier response to be