Grok obscenity row: X blocks 3,500 posts, deletes 600 accounts after Centre flags content

Social media platform X has blocked 3,500 posts and removed 600 accounts after the Centre flagged obscene content on the platform, government sources said. The sources added that X has assured the government it will not permit obscene material on its platform and will comply with all government regulations.

Also read | Following Grok AI row, X to permanently ban users for illegal content

The development comes a week after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology flagged obscene content on X, formerly Twitter. The ministry had sought an action-taken report from X Corp, led by billionaire Elon Musk, within 72 hours, calling for “immediate compliance for the prevention of hosting, generation, publication or transmission, sharing or uploading of obscene, nude, indecent and explicit content through the misuse of AI-based services such as ‘Grok’ and xAI’s other services”.

The Centre’s directive warned that any failure to comply would be “viewed seriously” and could invite strict legal action against the platform and concerned officials under Indian laws.

AI safeguards under scrutiny

In its letter, the ministry said it had observed that users were misusing Grok to create accounts that host, generate, publish or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory or vulgar manner, thereby indecently denigrating them.

The ministry directed X to conduct a comprehensive review of Grok’s technical and governance frameworks to prevent the generation of such content. The notice said Grok, X’s AI assistant, must strictly enforce user policies, including the suspension and termination of violators.

The ministry warned that non-compliance by X could lead to the loss of safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act and trigger penal action under several laws, including the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Indecent Representation of Women Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Also read | X gets time till Jan 7 to submit report on Grok obscene images

The letter said the concern is not limited to the creation of fake accounts but also includes instances where women are targeted through the hosting or publication of their images or videos using prompts, image manipulation and synthetic outputs. “Such conduct reflects a serious failure of platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms, and amounts to gross misuse of artificial intelligence technologies in violation of applicable laws,” the letter said.