{"id":93017,"date":"2026-01-12T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T09:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=93017"},"modified":"2026-01-12T12:05:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T09:05:34","slug":"malaysia-and-indonesia-block-grok-over-child-pornography-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/malaysia-and-indonesia-block-grok-over-child-pornography-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia and Indonesia Block Grok Over Child Pornography Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk&#8217;s Grok chatbot due to concerns about its use for generating sexual content.<\/p>\n<p>On January 11, the Malaysian regulator <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MCMC_RASMI\/status\/2010235447205921211\">ordered<\/a> temporary restrictions following &#8220;repeated failures by X Corp&#8221; to address risks associated with the AI service.<\/p>\n<p>A day earlier, Indonesia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.komdigi.go.id\/berita\/siaran-pers\/detail\/pernyataan-resmi-menteri-komunikasi-dan-digital-ri\">suspended<\/a> access to the chatbot over similar concerns and summoned company representatives for discussions.<\/p>\n<p>The strong response from Southeast Asian countries followed <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grok\/status\/2006618883055046758\">reports<\/a> that Grok enables the creation of materials involving minors and the generation of pornographic images.<\/p>\n<p>X stated that the company is addressing the issue. As a temporary measure, the image generation and editing function has been <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grok\/status\/2009729763716239616?s=20\">restricted<\/a> to paid subscribers only.<\/p>\n<p>Musk&#8217;s company recently updated Grok Imagine&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/2007475612949102943?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Insufficient Measures<\/h2>\n<p>Regulators in Malaysia and Indonesia were dissatisfied with the measures taken.<\/p>\n<p>The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated that the actions &#8220;do not address the risks associated with the design and operation of the AI tool.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; the regulator stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Malaysia and Indonesia have strict anti-pornography laws that prohibit the widespread distribution of such content online.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesia&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>She classifies the use of AI to create fake pornography as a form of &#8220;digital violence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Widespread Consequences<\/h2>\n<p>Regulators in the EU, UK, Brazil, and India are demanding an investigation into Grok&#8217;s role in the spread of deepfakes.<\/p>\n<p>The British Internet Watch Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y5w0k99r1o\">noted<\/a> that its analysts discovered &#8220;criminal images&#8221; of children aged 11 to 13, allegedly created using Grok.<\/p>\n<p>In London, extreme measures were considered: Technology Minister Liz Kendall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c99kn52nx9do\">confirmed<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities in various countries are urgently deciding how to regulate AI used for &#8220;undressing&#8221; people in photos.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not the First Scandal<\/h2>\n<p>Grok has previously faced criticism for spreading fake and questionable information.<\/p>\n<p>In December, the chatbot <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/grok-disseminates-misinformation-about-australian-shooting\">provided<\/a> 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:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In July, users <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/users-accuse-grok-of-consulting-with-musk\">noticed<\/a> that the neural network relies on Elon Musk&#8217;s opinion when forming responses. This included topics such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, abortion, and immigration laws.<\/p>\n<p>Observations suggest that the chatbot was specifically configured to consider Musk&#8217;s political views when responding to contentious issues.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, the billionaire <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/elon-musks-proposal-to-cleanse-ai-knowledge-base-sparks-expert-concerns\">stated<\/a> that his startup would rewrite &#8220;all human knowledge&#8221; to train a new version of Grok, as there is &#8220;too much garbage in any base model trained on uncorrected data&#8221; today.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/xai-launches-a-wikipedia-rival\">Grokipedia<\/a> emerged\u2014an AI-based online encyclopedia &#8220;focused on truth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In November, users <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/grok-ranks-musk-above-celebrities-in-looks-humour-and-athleticism\">noted<\/a> bias in Grok 4.1\u2014the new model significantly overestimated Elon Musk&#8217;s abilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk&#8217;s Grok chatbot due to concerns about its use for generating sexual content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Malaysia and Indonesia block Grok over child pornography concerns.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[438,1412,1201,1493],"class_list":["post-93017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bans-and-restrictions","tag-chatbots","tag-explainable-ai"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"154","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Malaysia and Indonesia block Grok over child pornography concerns.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93019,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93017\/revisions\/93019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}