India has mandated that Elon Musk’s X implement immediate changes to its AI chatbot Grok after users and lawmakers raised concerns about the generation of “obscene” content, including AI-altered images of women.
On Friday, India’s IT ministry issued a directive requiring Musk’s X to take corrective actions regarding Grok. This includes limiting the creation of content featuring “nudity, sexualization, sexually explicit, or otherwise unlawful” material. The ministry has provided the social media platform with a deadline of 72 hours to submit an action report detailing the measures taken to prevent hosting or sharing content considered “obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic, or otherwise prohibited under law.”
The order, reviewed by TechCrunch, indicated that non-compliance could threaten X’s “safe harbor” protections, which offer legal immunity from liability for user-generated content under Indian law.
This move follows user complaints highlighting instances where Grok was prompted to alter images—mainly of women—to make them appear in bikinis, leading to a formal complaint from Indian parliamentarian Priyanka Chaturvedi. Reports have also identified instances where the AI chatbot produced sexualized images involving minors, an issue that X acknowledged earlier on Friday was due to lapses in safety measures. These images have since been taken down.
Nevertheless, TechCrunch discovered that images created by Grok showing women in bikinis through AI alterations were still accessible on X at the time of publication.
The recent order follows a broader advisory issued by the Indian IT ministry on Monday, reminding social media platforms that adherence to local laws regarding obscene and sexually explicit content is essential for maintaining legal immunity for user-generated material. The advisory urged companies to bolster their internal safeguards and warned that failure to comply could lead to legal action under India’s IT and criminal laws.
“It is reiterated that non-compliance with the above requirements shall be viewed seriously and may result in strict legal consequences against your platform, its responsible officers, and users on the platform who violate the law, without any further notice,” the order cautioned.
The Indian government stated that failure to comply could result in action against X under India’s IT law and criminal statutes.
As one of the world’s largest digital markets, India has become a critical test case for how government agencies are willing to hold platforms accountable for AI-generated content. Any stricter enforcement in the country could have far-reaching consequences for global technology companies operating in various jurisdictions.
This latest order arrives amid Musk’s X ongoing legal challenges regarding aspects of India’s content regulation rules, arguing that federal government takedown powers risk overreach, despite complying with most blocking directives. Concurrently, Grok has been increasingly utilized by X users for real-time fact-checking and commentary on news events, making its outputs more visible—and politically sensitive—than those from standalone AI tools.
X and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the Indian government’s order.
