According to Bloomberg, Indonesia and Malaysia have cut off access to Grok by domestic users for fear that the security protection mechanism for xAI chat robot Grok will fail. The interim ban imposed by both countries will continue until XAI has implemented protective measures that meet regulatory requirements.
In his statement on Saturday, the Indonesian Minister for Communication and Digital Affairs, Meutya Hafid, stressed that “the Government regards involuntary and deep forgery as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the security of citizens in digital space”. The extensive Internet censorship laws in force in the country regulate what is considered “obscene”. Malaysia has recently launched an investigation into “Application of Artificial Intelligence Tools on the X Platform”, a wave of regulatory actions that followed India’s Ministry of Information Technology’s notification to Platform X, which called for an immediate response to Grok’s alleged misuse and suggested possible violations of Malaysia’s Information Technology Act. The Office of the Public Prosecutor of Paris, France, and other Governments, including the British and European Union investigative bodies, have announced similar investigations into the regulation of XAI technology and related cyber security frameworks. Australia ‘ s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanis, also issued a statement on the issue of deep forgery in Grok, reiterating its decision to ban social media for users under the age of 16. In addition, the National Centre for Sexual Exploitation in the United States has called on the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate platform X under the existing Child Sexual Abuse Materials Act and the recently enacted Offset Act.
British Minister of Technology Liz Kendall recently indicated that if the British Communications Authority found that the platform was in violation of the Online Security Act, she would support a complete closure of the X platform and a decision was expected in the coming days. Elon Mask had previously stated that users should bear the consequences of the “uploading of illegal content” on platform X, but he responded to the threat of a ban, accusing the British Government of “exacerbating the company” and issuing an X post stating that “they only want to suppress freedom of expression”, while transmitting several tweets that Grok was being targeted by government officials. A recent survey in the United States Newsline magazine found that, despite built-in protection mechanisms, the Grok desktop and APP were able to generate sexual violence and explicit content, celebrity pornography and potential AI-generated child sexual abuse materials. The chat robot has documented, in good detail, the potential for obscenity and obscenity, including involuntary “disdressing” at the request of the user of a person in a publicly uploaded photograph.
