Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk's Grok chatbot due to concerns about its potential use for generating sexual content.
On January 11, the Malaysian regulator ordered temporary restrictions following "repeated failures by X Corp" to mitigate risks associated with the AI service.
The day before, Indonesia suspended access to the chatbot over similar concerns and summoned company representatives for discussions.
The strong response from Southeast Asian countries followed reports that Grok allows the creation of materials involving minors and generates pornographic images.
In a statement, X indicated that the company is addressing the issue. As a temporary measure, the image generation and editing feature is restricted to paid subscribers only.
Musk's firm recently updated Grok Imagine, simplifying image creation through prompts in the chatbot. The entrepreneur warned that those who use the neural network for illegal purposes will face consequences.
Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2026
Measures Insufficient
Regulators in Malaysia and Indonesia expressed dissatisfaction with the measures taken.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated that the actions "do not account for the risks associated with the design and functioning of the AI tool."
"The restriction is imposed as a preventive and proportionate measure while legal and regulatory procedures are conducted. Access to Grok will remain limited until effective protective measures are implemented, particularly to prevent content related to women and children," the regulator stated.
Malaysia and Indonesia have strict anti-pornography laws that prohibit the widespread distribution of such content online.
Indonesian Minister of Communication and Digital Technology Meitiah Hafid stated that the government considers non-consensual sexual deepfakes a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and citizen safety in the digital space.
She classifies the use of AI to create fake pornography as a form of "digital violence."
Widespread Consequences
Regulators in the EU, UK, Brazil, and India are demanding investigations into Grok's role in the spread of deepfakes.
The British organization Internet Watch Foundation noted that its analysts found "criminal images" of children aged 11 to 13, allegedly created using Grok.
In London, extreme measures were considered: Technology Minister Liz Kendall confirmed that she would support a decision to block X if the platform fails to comply with safety standards. American lawmakers have also proposed that marketplaces remove the app until the issue is resolved.
Authorities in various countries are urgently determining how to regulate AI used for "dehumanizing" individuals in photos.
Not the First Scandal
Grok has faced criticism in the past for spreading misinformation and dubious content.
In December, the chatbot provided inaccurate information about a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia. When asked about a video showing a passerby, Ahmed Al-Ahmed, confronting a shooter, the AI responded:
"It appears to be an old viral clip of a man climbing a palm tree in a parking lot, possibly to trim it. As a result, a branch fell on a damaged car. Searches across various sources did not yield confirmed information about the location, date, and injuries. It may be a staged event; authenticity is unverified."
In July, users noticed that the neural network relied on Elon Musk's opinions when forming responses. This included topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, abortion, and immigration legislation.
Observations suggest that the chatbot was specifically tuned to consider Musk's political views when responding to controversial issues.
Previously, the billionaire stated that his startup would rewrite "all human knowledge" to train a new version of Grok, as too much "garbage" is currently used in any base model trained on unrefined data.
Subsequently, Grokpedia emerged—an AI-based online encyclopedia "oriented towards truth."
It is worth noting that in November, users pointed out Grok 4.1's bias, as the new model significantly overestimated Elon Musk's capabilities.