India Orders Musk’s X to Modify Grok After ‘Obscene’ AI Content Concerns

India has directed Elon Musk–owned social media platform X to immediately make technical and procedural changes to its AI chatbot Grok following complaints that the tool generated “obscene” content, including AI-altered images of women.

On Friday, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a formal order instructing X to take corrective action on Grok. The directive requires the company to restrict the chatbot from generating content involving nudity, sexualization, sexually explicit material, or any content deemed unlawful under Indian law.

The ministry also gave X 72 hours to submit a detailed action-taken report outlining the steps it has implemented to prevent the creation, hosting, or distribution of material considered obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, pedophilic, or otherwise prohibited.

Under the order, failure to comply could jeopardize X’s “safe harbour” protections, potentially exposing the platform to legal liability for user-generated content under Indian law.

The move follows growing concerns raised by users and lawmakers. Several users shared examples of Grok being prompted to digitally alter images of individuals—primarily women—to make them appear to be wearing bikinis. These incidents led to a formal complaint filed by Indian Member of Parliament Priyanka Chaturvedi.

Separately, recent reports highlighted cases where Grok generated sexualized images involving minors. X acknowledged earlier on Friday that gaps in its safety mechanisms were responsible for these incidents. The platform stated that the photos were later removed.

However, at the time of publication, images generated using Grok that altered women’s appearances to show them wearing bikinis were still accessible on X, according to a review.

The latest directive comes just days after the IT ministry issued a broader advisory to social media companies, reminding them that compliance with Indian laws governing obscene and sexually explicit content is mandatory to retain legal immunity. That advisory urged platforms to strengthen internal safeguards and warned that violations could lead to action under India’s IT Act and other criminal laws.

The order reiterated that non-compliance would be treated seriously and could lead to strict legal consequences for the platform, its responsible officers, and users who violate the law, without further notice.

The Indian government stated that failure to act could lead to enforcement actions against X under both information technology regulations and criminal statutes.

India, one of the world’s largest digital markets, is increasingly becoming a key testing ground for how governments regulate AI-generated content. Any stricter enforcement in the country could have broader implications for global technology firms operating across multiple regions.

The directive also comes as X continues to challenge parts of India’s content regulation framework in court, arguing that government takedown powers could be excessive. Despite those challenges, the platform has complied with most blocking orders issued by authorities.

Meanwhile, Grok’s growing use on X for real-time commentary and fact-checking on news events has made its outputs more visible—and more politically sensitive— than those of many standalone AI tools.

X and its AI subsidiary xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the Indian government’s order.