After Indonesia, Malaysia blocks Grok over obscene images
What's the story
Malaysia has blocked access to Elon Musk's Grok chatbot after its image creation feature was widely misused to create pornographic and abusive content. The decision follows a global backlash over the tool's ability to sexualize pictures of women and children with simple text prompts. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced that it had "directed a temporary restriction on access to the Grok artificial intelligence for users in Malaysia."
Misuse concerns
Grok's misuse leads to temporary ban
The MCMC cited "repeated misuse of Grok to generate obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive and non-consensual manipulated images" as the reason for the ban. The regulator highlighted content involving women and minors despite prior regulatory engagement with Musk's X Corp. and xAI start-up that developed Grok. The AI tool is integrated into social media platform X.
Resumption conditions
Access to Grok will resume post verification
The MCMC has deemed the platform's safeguards inadequate and said access would be restored only after the necessary changes are verified. The regulator criticized X Corp. for not addressing the inherent risks posed by the design and operation of Grok, saying it relied mostly on user-initiated reporting mechanisms. This comes after European officials and tech campaigners slammed Grok's controversial image creation feature that was restricted to paying subscribers.
Regional response
Indonesia also bans Grok over obscene content
Along with Malaysia, Indonesia has also imposed a temporary ban on Grok. The country's Communications and Digital Affairs Ministry said the move is aimed at "protecting women, children, and the entire community from the risk of fake pornographic content generated using artificial intelligence technology." The ministry has asked platform X to provide clarification regarding this matter.
Information
Policy change: Image-generation feature restricted on X
In light of the widespread criticism, Musk's xAI has decided to restrict the image-generation feature for most users on the X. Now, users need a paid subscription to generate and edit images with this tool.