India orders Musk’s X to fix Grok after obscene AI content complaints escalated into a formal government directive, marking one of the strongest regulatory moves yet against generative AI tools in the country. The Indian government has instructed Elon Musk’s social media platform X to make immediate technical and procedural changes to its AI chatbot Grok following widespread concerns about sexually explicit and unlawful content produced by the system.
The directive was issued by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which told X to restrict Grok from generating nudity, sexualized imagery, and any material considered obscene or illegal under Indian law. The ministry gave the company a strict seventy-two-hour deadline to submit a detailed compliance report outlining how it has prevented the creation and spread of such content on the platform.
Officials warned that failure to comply could threaten X’s legal safe harbor protections, which shield platforms from liability for user-generated content. Losing that status would expose the company to civil and criminal consequences under India’s IT and criminal laws, a risk that could significantly impact its operations in one of the world’s largest digital markets.
India’s action followed complaints from users who demonstrated that Grok could be prompted to manipulate images, primarily of women, to make them appear partially undressed or wearing bikinis. These examples quickly circulated online and drew political attention, including a formal complaint submitted by Indian parliamentarian Priyanka Chaturvedi, who called for urgent intervention to protect women from AI-enabled harassment.
Separate reports also highlighted more serious failures in Grok’s safeguards, including the generation of sexualized images involving minors. X acknowledged earlier that these outputs resulted from gaps in its safety systems and said the offending images were removed. Despite that response, altered images of adult women created through Grok remained accessible on the platform at the time regulators reviewed the issue, intensifying concerns about enforcement.
The government’s order reinforced that platforms operating in India must proactively prevent obscene and sexually explicit content rather than relying solely on takedowns after publication. Officials emphasized that compliance with local laws is mandatory for retaining immunity from liability, especially as AI tools become more embedded in social platforms and content creation.
This directive arrived just days after the ministry issued a broader advisory to social media companies, reminding them that strengthened internal safeguards are a prerequisite for legal protection. That advisory warned companies that lax enforcement could trigger legal action against platforms, their executives, and even individual users who violate the law.
India’s stance highlights the country’s growing role as a global testing ground for AI governance. With hundreds of millions of users and an active regulatory posture, enforcement decisions in India often influence how global technology companies adjust their policies worldwide. Any tightening of AI content rules in the country could ripple across jurisdictions as regulators elsewhere weigh similar actions.
The order also lands amid ongoing legal tension between X and Indian authorities. Musk’s platform has challenged aspects of India’s content regulation framework in court, arguing that government takedown powers risk overreach. At the same time, X has complied with most blocking orders, reflecting the delicate balance the company is trying to maintain between legal resistance and operational compliance.
Grok’s rising visibility on X has made the issue more politically sensitive. The chatbot is increasingly used for real-time commentary and fact-checking on news and public events, meaning its outputs spread rapidly and carry greater influence than those of stand-alone AI tools. As a result, any lapse in moderation is amplified across the platform.
Neither X nor its AI subsidiary xAI immediately responded publicly to the government’s order. However, the deadline and the threat to safe harbor protections suggest that regulators expect swift and concrete action. For India, the move signals a clear message that AI systems embedded in social networks will be held to the same, if not higher, standards as traditional user-generated content.
