Malaysia, Indonesia become first to block Musk’s Grok over sexualized AI
images
[January 12, 2026] By
EILEEN NG and EDNA TARIGAN
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia and Indonesia have become the
first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot
developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being
misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.
The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that
can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards
fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through
Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating
manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually
explicit poses, as well as images involving children.
Regulators in the two Southeast Asian nations said existing controls
were not preventing the creation and spread of fake pornographic
content, particularly involving women and minors. Indonesia’s government
temporarily blocked access to Grok on Saturday, followed by Malaysia on
Sunday.
"The government sees non-consensual sexual deepfakes as a serious
violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens in the
digital space,” Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister
Meutya Hafid said in a statement Saturday.
The ministry said the measure was intended to protect women, children
and the broader community from fake pornographic content generated using
AI.
Initial findings showed that Grok lacks effective safeguards to stop
users from creating and distributing pornographic content based on real
photos of Indonesian residents, Alexander Sabar, director general of
digital space supervision, said in a separate statement. He said such
practices risk violating privacy and image rights when photos are
manipulated or shared without consent, causing psychological, social and
reputational harm.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
ordered a temporary restriction on Grok on Sunday after what it said was
“repeated misuse” of the tool to generate obscene, sexually explicit and
non-consensual manipulated images, including content involving women and
minors.
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 The regulator said notices issued
this month to X Corp. and xAI demanding stronger safeguards drew
responses that relied mainly on user reporting mechanisms.
“The restriction is imposed as a preventive and proportionate
measure while legal and regulatory processes are ongoing,” it said,
adding that access will remain blocked until effective safeguards
are put in place.
Launched in 2023, Grok is free to use on X. Users can ask it
questions on the social media platform and tag posts they’ve
directly created or replies to posts from other users. Last summer
the company added an image generator feature, Grok Imagine, that
included a so-called “spicy mode” that can generate adult content.
The Southeast Asian restrictions come amid mounting scrutiny of Grok
elsewhere, including in the European Union, Britain, India and
France. Grok last week limited image generation and editing to
paying users following a global backlash over sexualized deepfakes
of people, but critics say it did not fully address the problem.
An attempt by The Associated Press to request a comment through
email to xAI resulted in an automated reply from the media support
email address which stated, “Legacy Media Lies.” This was the same
message received from a different email when asked for comment
regarding the global backlash.
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Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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