The Indian government has described the response submitted by X regarding obscene content linked to its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok as “detailed but not adequate,” and has sought further information
on specific actions taken and measures to prevent future violations, news agency PTI quotes sources as saying.
X had submitted a lengthy reply to the IT Ministry on Wednesday after being given an extended deadline of 5 pm, following a stern warning over the generation of indecent and sexually explicit content through AI services like Grok.
Sources told PTI that the platform’s submission affirmed its respect for Indian laws and stipulated guidelines, and highlighted India as a major market.
It also outlined strict content takedown policies related to misleading information and non-consensual sexualised images.
However, officials noted that the response “missed” crucial information, including the details of takedowns and specific steps taken to address the obscene content created through Grok AI.
The IT Ministry has now asked X to provide further clarification on these points and respond immediately to the additional queries.
On January 2, the ministry had directed the Elon Musk-led platform to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene, and unlawful content, especially that generated via Grok, warning that failure to comply would result in action under the IT Act and other applicable laws.
The directive required X to submit a detailed Action Taken Report (ATR) within 72 hours, specifying the technical and organisational measures adopted in relation to Grok, the role and oversight exercised by the Chief Compliance Officer, actions taken against offending content, users, and accounts, and mechanisms to ensure compliance with mandatory reporting under Indian law.
“The statutory exemptions under section 79 of the IT Act, which deal with safe harbour and immunity from liability for online intermediaries, are conditional upon strict observance of due diligence obligations,” the ministry had warned.
“Accordingly, you are advised to strictly desist from the hosting, displaying, uploading, publication, transmission, storage, or sharing of any content on your platform that is obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, paedophilic, or otherwise prohibited under any law,” it said.
The ministry noted that Grok AI is being misused not only to create fake accounts but also to target women who host or publish their images or videos, through prompts, image manipulation, and synthetic outputs.
Officials described this as “a serious failure of platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms” and “gross misuse of artificial intelligence technologies in violation of stipulated laws.”
X had earlier stated on its official ‘Safety’ handle that it removes illegal content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), permanently suspends violating accounts, and collaborates with law enforcement.
“Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” the platform had said, reiterating the stance taken by Musk on illegal content.
With the development, the government has instructed X to enforce user terms and AI usage restrictions, implement strong deterrent measures such as suspension or termination, and remove or disable access “without delay” to all content generated or disseminated in violation of applicable laws, in strict compliance with the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021, while preserving evidence.
Besides India, X has faced scrutiny from authorities in the UK and Malaysia.
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, mentioned in a social media post, “We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children.”
“We have made urgent contact with X and xAI to understand what steps they have taken to comply with their legal duties to protect users in the UK,” it stated.
