Philippines to lift ban on Grok AI after Musk's platform commits to fix safety concerns

Philippines finally announced the lifting of the ban on Grok’s AI (XAI) after restricting access over explicit content and child safety concerns.

The Philippines’s cybercrime investigation unit, CICC, said on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, that it will restore access to Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, following commitments from ‌its developer to remove image-manipulation tools that previously ‌raised child safety concerns.

"The Grok AI app has reached out to us and stated ⁠that its ‌platform will no longer use any content manipulation," the Cybercrime Investigation ‍and Coordinating Center said in a statement posted on Facebook.

"Even after lifting the ban, the CICC will still closely monitor the ‌app to ensure they comply with the rules and regulations in our country," it added.

The Philippines last week blocked Grok amid concerns about its ability to generate ⁠sexualized images, including content that could pose child safety risks.

The move to block came as governments and regulators from ‍Europe to ⁠Asia cracked down on sexually explicit content generated by Grok on the social ⁠media platform X, launching probes, imposing bans, and ‌demanding safeguards.

Previously, Grok AI has faced global criticism for its explicit content and image editing app, with several countries probing into the matter and a few others completely blocking it.