Elon Musk warns of consequences for illegal use of Grok and X

Elon

Musk has warned that anyone using Grok to create illegal content or using X to post illegal content will face consequences. In a post on X, he stated that users who generate illegal content through Grok will be treated the same as those who upload illegal content directly on the platform.

Elon Musk has warned that anyone using Grok to create illegal content or ???? to post illegal content will face consequences

"Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content" pic.twitter.com/UaQj0u45Lg

— SMX ???????? (@iam_smx) January 3, 2026

Earlier, India’s electronics and IT ministry has taken cognisance of the misuse of X’s artificial intelligence tool Grok to generate obscene images, and action will follow soon, S Krishnan, Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview.

Also Read: Grok claims safeguards tightened after users misuse AI to morph images of women, children

Speaking on the issue, Krishnan said the matter had been flagged to the ministry only recently and was already under examination. “It has been brought to our notice today and we are taking action on this and we will make sure that we act on this fairly quickly,” he said, signalling regulatory scrutiny of the platform and its AI systems.

As per Turkiye Today the misuse of Grok’s image-generation tools first came to light after the launch of Grok Imagine in August 2025 and intensified sharply toward the end of the year.

The activity escalated around New Year’s Eve, with manipulated images being circulated widely without consent, raising serious concerns around online safety, privacy and AI-enabled sexual abuse.

Though, Grok, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool on social media platform X, claims it has hidden the media feature to generate images after reports of users generating explicit or non-consensual content surfaced online.

"xAI has implemented strict guidelines to prevent Grok from generating explicit or non-consensual content," the tool wrote in an automated response to a post by CNBC-TV18.

Also Read: MeitY takes cognisance of Grok misuse on X, action to follow soon: Secretary S Krishnan

Cyber-safety experts, however, have warned that partial restrictions may not be sufficient, as morphed images continue to circulate on social media platforms. They have also argued that AI-driven image manipulation constitutes a form of sexual violence, particularly when minors are involved, and have called for stronger enforcement and clearer accountability frameworks for platforms deploying generative AI tools.