Indonesia and Malaysia ban Grok as AI tool spreads unauthorized explicit deepfakes

Indonesian and Malaysian authorities have announced temporary restrictions on accessing xAI's chatbot, Grok.

These measures represent the strongest government response yet to a surge of sexualized, AI-generated content—frequently portraying real women and minors, sometimes violently—that Grok has published in response to user prompts on the social platform X. (X and xAI operate under the same corporate umbrella.)

In a statement released Saturday to The Guardian and other outlets, Indonesia's Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid stated, "The government considers non-consensual sexual deepfakes a severe infringement on human rights, personal dignity, and citizen safety in the digital realm."

The ministry has also reportedly called in X representatives to address the matter.

According to The New York Times, Malaysia's government announced a comparable ban on Sunday.

Recent government actions include India's IT ministry directing xAI to prevent Grok from producing explicit material, while the European Commission has ordered the company to preserve all Grok-related documents, potentially paving the way for an official inquiry.

In the United Kingdom, communications regulator Ofcom stated it will "conduct a rapid evaluation to identify potential compliance concerns requiring investigation." Prime Minister Keir Starmer affirmed in an interview that Ofcom has his "full backing to take necessary measures."

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Meanwhile in the United States, the Trump administration has remained quiet on the controversy (xAI CEO Elon Musk is a significant Trump supporter and previously headed the administration's contentious Department of Government Efficiency), though Democratic senators have urged Apple and Google to remove X from their app marketplaces.

xAI's initial response included an apparent first-person apology from the Grok account, admitting that a post "breached ethical norms and possibly US laws" concerning child sexual abuse material. The company later limited AI image generation to X's premium subscribers, though this restriction didn't extend to the standalone Grok app, which remained accessible for image creation.

When questioned about why UK authorities weren't targeting other AI image generators, Musk responded, "They're seeking pretexts for censorship."

This article has been updated to include Malaysia's prohibition of Grok.