Indonesia ‘conditionally’ lifts ban on Grok

Indonesia has joined Malaysia and the Philippines in lifting its ban on Grok, the chatbot developed by xAI.

Authorities across Southeast Asia had moved to block access to Grok after the tool was widely used to generate a large volume of nonconsensual, sexualized imagery on X, the social media platform now owned by xAI. The images reportedly included depictions of real women and minors. Separate investigations by The New York Times and the Centre for Countering Digital Hate found that Grok was used to produce at least 1.8 million sexualized images of women during late December and January.

In a statement released this week, Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs said the ban had been lifted after X submitted a formal letter “detailing concrete steps for service improvements and measures to prevent misuse” (translation via The New York Times).

Alexander Sabar, the ministry’s director general for digital space monitoring, emphasized that the decision was not permanent. He said access to Grok has been restored only “conditionally,” warning that the ban could be reinstated if “additional violations are identified.”

Malaysia and the Philippines had already lifted their respective bans on January 23, following similar assurances from the company.

Grok’s use in generating deepfake imagery has prompted criticism, regulatory scrutiny, and investigations in several countries, though only a limited number of governments have opted for outright bans. In the United States, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office is investigating xAI and confirmed that a cease-and-desist letter was sent to the company, instructing it to halt the creation of such content.

xAI has since introduced some restrictions on Grok’s functionality. Among the changes, the chatbot’s AI image generation tools have reportedly been limited to paying subscribers on X. Elon Musk, xAI’s CEO, has said that “anyone using Grok to generate illegal content will face the same consequences as those who upload illegal content” and added that he is “not aware of any naked images of underage individuals generated by Grok.”

The controversy comes amid renewed scrutiny of Musk following the release of documents by the U.S. Justice Department on Friday related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The documents include at least 16 emails exchanged between Musk and Epstein in 2012 and 2013, in which Musk discussed the possibility of visiting Epstein’s Caribbean island and referred to the “wildest party on your island.” Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring an underage girl for prostitution.

Separately, xAI is reportedly in discussions to merge with two other Musk-controlled companies, SpaceX and Tesla, as SpaceX prepares for a potential initial public offering.