Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries in the world to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, after authorities determined it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images. Indonesia implemented a temporary block on Grok on Saturday, January 11, 2026, with Malaysia following the next day, marking an unprecedented regulatory response to AI-generated deepfake content.
Indonesian Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid stated that the government views non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the safety of citizens in the digital space. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission announced it would temporarily restrict access to Grok following repeated misuse to generate obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and non-consensual manipulated images targeting individuals without their consent.
The controversy stems from Grok's image generation feature called Grok Imagine, which was introduced last summer and included a so-called spicy mode capable of producing adult content. The surge in digital undressing incidents began late last year when users discovered they could tag Grok on X and manipulate images of real people. Users have prompted the chatbot to generate images of individuals in compromising situations, causing distress to hundreds of thousands of women worldwide who found their likenesses exploited.
In response to the global backlash, xAI limited image generation and editing capabilities to paying users last week, but critics argue this measure failed to fully address the problem. When contacted by The Associated Press for comment, xAI's media support address sent an automated reply stating only the words Legacy Media Lies, offering no substantive response to the serious allegations of platform misuse.
The Southeast Asian restrictions have triggered mounting scrutiny of Grok in other jurisdictions including the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, and France. On Monday, the United Kingdom's media regulator Ofcom launched a formal investigation into whether Grok complied with its duties to protect people in the UK from content that is illegal. The regulatory body is examining potential violations of online safety laws regarding the generation of non-consensual intimate imagery.
In the United States, the Trump administration has remained silent on the Grok deepfake controversy, while Democratic senators have called on Apple and Google to remove X from their app stores until the platform addresses the harmful AI-generated content. Senator Amy Klobuchar and other lawmakers have expressed concern that the technology is being weaponized against women and vulnerable individuals with no meaningful accountability.
Digital rights advocates have welcomed the regulatory actions by Malaysia and Indonesia as necessary steps to protect citizens from AI-enabled abuse. Experts note that this marks a significant turning point in how governments approach AI regulation, potentially setting precedents for other nations grappling with similar challenges. The incident has reignited debates about the responsibilities of AI companies to implement robust safeguards against misuse before releasing powerful generative tools to the public.