Malaysia and Indonesia Block Grok Over Child Pornography Concerns

Malaysia and Indonesia block Grok over child pornography concerns.

Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot due to concerns about its use for generating sexual content.

On January 11, the Malaysian regulator ordered temporary restrictions following “repeated failures by X Corp” to address risks associated with the AI service.

A day earlier, Indonesia suspended access to the chatbot over similar concerns and summoned company representatives for discussions.

The strong response from Southeast Asian countries followed reports that Grok enables the creation of materials involving minors and the generation of pornographic images.

X stated that the company is addressing the issue. As a temporary measure, the image generation and editing function has been restricted to paid subscribers only.

Musk’s company recently updated Grok Imagine’s features, simplifying image creation through prompts in the chatbot. The entrepreneur, in turn, threatened accountability for those using the neural network for illegal purposes.

Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2026

Insufficient Measures

Regulators in Malaysia and Indonesia were dissatisfied with the measures taken.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated that the actions “do not address the risks associated with the design and operation of the AI tool.”

“The restriction is imposed as a preventive and proportionate measure pending legal and regulatory procedures. Access to Grok will remain restricted until effective safeguards are in place, particularly to prevent content related to women and children,” the regulator stated.

Malaysia and Indonesia have strict anti-pornography laws that prohibit the widespread distribution of such content online.

Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Digital Technology, Meithya Hafid, stated that the government views non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and citizen safety in the digital space.

She classifies the use of AI to create fake pornography as a form of “digital violence.”

Widespread Consequences

Regulators in the EU, UK, Brazil, and India are demanding an investigation into Grok’s role in the spread of deepfakes.

The British Internet Watch Foundation noted that its analysts discovered “criminal images” of children aged 11 to 13, allegedly created using Grok.

In London, extreme measures were considered: Technology Minister Liz Kendall confirmed that she would support a decision to block X if the platform does not comply with safety standards. American lawmakers have also suggested that marketplaces remove the app until the issue is resolved.

Authorities in various countries are urgently deciding how to regulate AI used for “undressing” people in photos.

Not the First Scandal

Grok has previously faced criticism for spreading fake and questionable information.

In December, the chatbot provided false information about a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia. In response to a question about a video showing a passerby, Ahmed al-Ahmed, grappling with the shooter, the AI replied:

“It appears to be an old viral clip of a man climbing a palm tree in a parking lot, possibly to trim it. As a result, a branch fell on a damaged car. Searches across various sources did not yield confirmed information about the location, date, and injuries. It may be staged, authenticity not confirmed.”

In July, users noticed that the neural network relies on Elon Musk’s opinion when forming responses. This included topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, abortion, and immigration laws.

Observations suggest that the chatbot was specifically configured to consider Musk’s political views when responding to contentious issues.

Previously, the billionaire stated that his startup would rewrite “all human knowledge” to train a new version of Grok, as there is “too much garbage in any base model trained on uncorrected data” today.

Subsequently, Grokipedia emerged—an AI-based online encyclopedia “focused on truth.”

In November, users noted bias in Grok 4.1—the new model significantly overestimated Elon Musk’s abilities.