On 3rd January (local time), X’s owner Elon Musk said social media users asking the platform’s AI chatbot Grok to create illegal content will face similar consequences as those uploading illegal content.
The statement came a day after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed X to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene and unlawful content, especially content generated by the Grok AI app. The ministry said that if the platform fails to act, it may face action as per the law of the land.
Elon Musk, in response to a post on the social media platform X, said, “Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”
The post to which Musk was responding compared Grok to a pen and said anyone writing something bad cannot shift blame to the pen. “A pen doesn’t decide what gets written. The person holding it does. Grok works the same way. What you get depends a lot on what you put in. Think about it!” the post read.
Following the controversy, X’s Safety team also stepped in and issued a statement quoting Elon Musk. The post read, “We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary. Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content. For more information on our policies, please refer to our help pages for our full X Rules and range of enforcement options.”
Earlier, on 29th December, MeitY had issued a notice to X, where the government cited failure to comply with statutory due diligence obligations under the IT Act, 2000, and the IT Rules, 2021. The Government of India ordered X to submit an action taken report (ATR) within 72 hours, providing details of the measures the platform adopted, the role of the chief compliance officer, and compliance with mandatory reporting under the BNSS.
The issue stemmed from reports that X users are using Grok services to create obscene and sexually explicit content of women on the platform. The ministry highlighted that users have been exploiting Grok’s capabilities to generate content in a derogatory manner, which violates privacy and dignity.
