X admits mistake, deletes 600 accounts over Grok misuse
What's the story
Elon Musk-owned X has admitted to a mistake and assured the Government of India that it will comply with Indian laws. The admission comes amid controversy over the misuse of its artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Grok. According to government sources speaking to PTI, X has blocked around 3,500 pieces of content and deleted over 600 accounts found violating Indian laws.
Assurance
Commitment to uphold Indian laws
X has also assured that it will not host obscene imagery on its platform in the future. Government sources said, "X has accepted its mistake and said it will work as per the laws of India." The statement comes after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent a letter to X on January 2, giving the firm 72 hours to comply with statutory obligations under Indian law.
Controversy
MeitY's concerns over Grok AI misuse
MeitY had raised serious concerns over the misuse of Grok, an AI-based service on X. The Ministry said Grok was being misused to create and share obscene, vulgar, as well as sexually explicit images and videos. These were particularly targeting women via prompts, image manipulation, and synthetic outputs. Such content violates provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.
Legal implications
MeitY warned X of legal action
MeitY warned X that non-compliance could lead to losing safe harbor protection under Section 79 of the IT Act. Further legal action under applicable laws could also be taken. The Ministry ordered X to conduct a comprehensive technical and governance-level review of Grok AI, strictly enforce its user policies, remove all unlawful content without delay, and submit an Action Taken Report.