X to remove illegal content, suspend accounts misusing Grok

Microblogging platform X and Grok AI enforcement have come under fresh scrutiny after the Elon Musk-owned company said it will take strict action against illegal content on its platform.

X confirmed on Sunday that it would remove unlawful material, permanently suspend accounts involved, and cooperate with local governments and law enforcement to explain how it plans to respond to growing regulatory pressure, particularly from India.

In a statement shared by X, Global Government Affairs, the company said that anyone who uses its AI service, Grok, to generate illegal content would be held to the same standards as users who upload such material themselves.

The same stance has been echoed in a post by owner Elon Musk, who noted that users generating illegal material through Grok will not be treated any differently.

X responds to Grok misuse concerns

The clarification comes after India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued an order to X on January 2. MeitY asked X to remove the vulgar, obscene, and unlawful content, in particular from Grok AI-generated content, immediately; otherwise, the platform will face legal action.

MeitY has also called for a detailed report of the action taken within 72 hours from X.

There have been public and parliamentary inputs to the ministry about people taking offence to some content on X, which is in violation of decency and obscenity laws in India.

This notification points to the misuse of Grok in the creation and distribution of obscene pictures and videos, especially targeting women.

The Global Government Affairs team of X also offered a link for rules about the platform that allow content created between consenting adults when properly labelled and not featured prominently on the platform.

The rules state that no illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material, would be tolerated on the platform and would immediately be removed.