X admits lapses, deletes over 600 accounts over Grok obscene images row: Govt sources
PTC News Desk: Social media platform X has acknowledged its error and assured the Indian government that it will operate in line with Indian laws, government sources said, following controversy over misuse of its AI tool, Grok.
As per officials, X has taken down about 3,500 pieces of content and removed more than 600 accounts that violated Indian regulations. The company has also stated it will no longer permit obscene imagery on its platform. This response came after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a notice on January 2, giving X 72 hours to comply with legal requirements under Indian law.
The platform had seen a surge in user activity due to Grok, its AI chatbot, which recently went viral due to the controversial “creepy bikini” trend and other uses.
In its letter, MeitY expressed serious concerns that Grok was being misused to create and share obscene, vulgar, and sexually explicit images and videos—especially those targeting women—through prompts, image manipulation and synthetic outputs. The Ministry said such misuse violates the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT Rules, 2021, and undermines the dignity, privacy, and safety of women and children, highlighting gaps in platform safeguards.
MeitY reminded X that adherence to the IT Act and IT Rules is mandatory for major social media platforms, warning that failure to comply could lead to the loss of safe-harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act and possible legal action.
The Ministry instructed X to conduct a full technical and governance review of Grok, enforce user policies strictly, remove illegal content promptly, and submit an Action Taken Report within 72 hours.
Government sources said X has now accepted the Ministry’s concerns, removed the flagged content, and assured the government that stronger safeguards will be implemented to prevent the creation and spread of obscene material on the platform.
- With inputs from agencies
