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The Philippine government said on Thursday it is planning to impose a ban on Grok “by tonight,” joining Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia in blocking access to the chatbot amid outrage over sexually explicit images of women and young girls.
The AI generated sexualised deepfakes came a news and breach of privacy responding to what X said that it was taking measures to prevent its chatbot from undressing images of real people – including children – amid a growing backlash and the launch of an investigation in the US state of California.
"We need to clean the internet now, because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI," telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda told a press briefing announcing the decision as quoted by AFP.
Renato Paraiso, acting executive director of the country's cybercrime centre, told AFP "By tonight or within today, we are expecting (Grok) to be blocked in the entire Philippines.”
"We are expecting the telcos to immediately comply with the (National Telecommunications Commission) order, so of course we will monitor it,” he added.
"We cannot make decisions based on announcements," Paraiso said, adding they would watch to see if the platform carries through with its promises.
Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with Malaysia following the next day.
The AI generated sexualised deepfakes came a news and breach of privacy responding to what X said that it was taking measures to prevent its chatbot from undressing images of real people – including children – amid a growing backlash and the launch of an investigation in the US state of California.
"We need to clean the internet now, because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI," telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda told a press briefing announcing the decision as quoted by AFP.
Renato Paraiso, acting executive director of the country's cybercrime centre, told AFP "By tonight or within today, we are expecting (Grok) to be blocked in the entire Philippines.”
"We are expecting the telcos to immediately comply with the (National Telecommunications Commission) order, so of course we will monitor it,” he added.
"We cannot make decisions based on announcements," Paraiso said, adding they would watch to see if the platform carries through with its promises.
Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with Malaysia following the next day.
