Illegal Grok content will invite consequences, says Elon Musk
X owner Elon Musk on Saturday warned users against generating illegal content using the platform’s AI service Grok, saying they would face the same legal consequences as those who upload unlawful material, amid mounting backlash over the circulation of vulgar AI-generated images on the platform.
Musk’s statement came a day after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed X to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene and unlawful content, particularly content generated using Grok, and warned of action under Indian law for non-compliance.
“Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” Musk said in a post on X, responding to concerns over the creation of inappropriate images.
Musk was replying to a post that likened Grok to a tool rather than a decision-maker. “Some people are saying Grok is creating inappropriate images. But that’s like blaming a pen for writing something bad. A pen doesn’t decide what gets written. The person holding it does,” the post said.
Government issues ultimatum to X
MeitY has directed the US-based social media platform to take action against offending content, users and accounts, and submit a detailed action-taken report (ATR) within 72 hours of the order.
In its directive, the ministry said it had received repeated complaints through public discourse and parliamentary representations that certain categories of content circulating on X were not in compliance with Indian laws governing decency and obscenity.
The government specifically flagged misuse of “Grok AI”, stating that users were creating fake accounts to generate and circulate obscene or derogatory images and videos of women, amounting to indecent denigration.
Political pressure mounts
The government’s intervention followed a letter by Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, seeking urgent action against the growing misuse of Grok to create vulgar images of women and spread them on social media platforms.
Earlier, on December 29, MeitY had issued an advisory to all social media intermediaries, asking them to review their compliance mechanisms and take swift action against obscene, vulgar and unlawful content, warning of prosecution under Indian law in case of failure.
The ministry said it had observed that several platforms were not acting strictly or consistently against such content, prompting the latest enforcement action.
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Indian govt action is genuine & to be appreciated. West has no morals nor ethics other than blabbering it loosely without any spine