Social media platform X has blocked over 3,500 pieces of content and deleted more than 600 accounts following intervention by the Indian government, sources informed Hindustan Times on Sunday. The action was taken days after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a notice to X Corp demanding an action-taken report on obscene and sexually explicit imagery generated by its AI chatbot Grok. X reportedly acknowledged its mistake and committed to preventing such content generation on its platform.

On January 2, the ministry formally wrote to X highlighting serious lapses in preventing the creation and dissemination of sexually explicit material through Grok. Officials emphasized that the law of the land must prevail, warning that failure to comply could result in the loss of legal protections under Indian law. They further stated that similar measures would be applied to other platforms whose AI tools generate non-compliant content.

The government made it clear that Grok cannot be regarded as a neutral platform feature. Officials described Grok as an artificial content creator, comparable to a human user generating material, rather than a mere intermediary tool. This shift in approach marked a departure from earlier perceptions, with authorities stressing that Grok operates directly on a major social platform, amplifying the speed and impact of any violations.

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X submitted its initial response to the ministry five days after receiving the notice, but the government found it unsatisfactory. Sources indicated that the reply largely reiterated the platform's existing user policies without adequately addressing the core concerns raised. Following this, X took swift corrective steps, including the large-scale content blocking and account deletions, to demonstrate compliance with Indian regulations.

India is not the only country to take action against Grok's content generation capabilities. Indonesia recently suspended the chatbot over similar concerns regarding AI-generated pornographic material, while the United Kingdom, France, and Malaysia have also raised objections in recent months. The developments underscore growing global scrutiny of AI tools and their potential to produce explicit content without sufficient safeguards.

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