Malaysia has become the latest nation to impose a temporary ban on the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, developed by Elon Musk's company xAI. The move follows a similar restriction by Indonesia and comes amid a growing international outcry over the tool's ability to generate fake and sexually explicit images.
Global Outcry Leads to Swift Action
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced the restriction on Sunday. It stated that access to Grok would be blocked until the platform implements effective safeguards. The regulator cited the AI's capacity to produce "obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and nonconsensual manipulated images," with particular concern over content involving women and minors.
This action places Malaysia as the second country to block the service, just one day after Indonesia's communications minister, Meutya Hafid, announced a temporary ban. Minister Hafid condemned the creation of non-consensual sexual deepfakes, labelling it a serious violation of human rights and citizen security in digital spaces.
Inadequate Safeguards Prompt Government Intervention
The MCMC revealed it had issued formal notices to both X (formerly Twitter) and xAI earlier this month. The commission demanded the implementation of robust technical and content moderation measures. However, officials deemed the companies' responses insufficient, as they relied too heavily on user-reported complaints and failed to address the core risks posed by the image-generation technology.
In an attempt to curb misuse, xAI announced last week that its image generation and editing features would be limited to paying subscribers on X. The company argued that these users, having provided personal details, could be more easily identified if they violated the rules. Despite this, regulators and governments have found the measure inadequate in preventing harm.
International Regulatory Pressure Mounts
The controversy has triggered warnings and investigations from authorities worldwide, signalling a potential global crackdown on generative AI misuse.
In Europe: Germany's culture minister, Wolfram Weimer, urged the European Commission to take legal action, warning of the "industrialisation of sexual harassment." Italy's data protection authority stated that creating explicit AI images without consent constitutes a serious privacy violation and potentially a criminal offence. French ministers have referred sexually explicit Grok content to prosecutors.
In the Asia-Pacific: India's IT ministry sent a formal notice to X on 2 January concerning explicit images allegedly created via Grok, demanding their removal and a compliance report within 72 hours.
In the Anglosphere: The UK government has raised the possibility of a ban if stronger action is not taken. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the non-consensual use of AI for sexual exploitation as "abhorrent."
It remains unclear whether the Malaysian and Indonesian bans apply solely to Grok's integration within the X platform, its standalone website and app, or all access points. Some users in Indonesia reported the app was still accessible, albeit very slow, following the announcement.
