Government Orders Elon Musk's X to Remove Vulgar and Unlawful Content Immediately

The Indian government has issued a stern warning to the social media platform X, led by Elon Musk, demanding the immediate removal of vulgar and unlawful content. This content, particularly generated by the AI app Grok, must be taken down or the platform will face legal action. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) has sent a notice to X's Chief Compliance Officer in India for not adhering to statutory obligations under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and IT Rules, 2021.

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Earlier in the day, Priyanka Chaturvedi, a Rajya Sabha member, wrote to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. She sought urgent intervention regarding the misuse of AI app Grok to create vulgar images of women for social media. The order highlighted that Grok AI is being exploited to create fake accounts that host obscene images or videos of women. This misuse reflects a significant failure in platform safeguards and enforcement mechanisms.

Government Demands Action Against Obscene Content

The ministry has instructed X to remove or disable access to all content violating laws without delay. This must be done in strict compliance with timelines set under the IT Rules, 2021. Meity also demands action against offending content, users, and accounts. The US-based firm must submit a detailed action taken report within 72 hours from when the order was issued.

The government has received complaints through public discourse and parliamentary stakeholders about certain content on X not complying with decency and obscenity laws. The misuse of Grok AI extends beyond fake accounts, targeting women who publish their images through prompts and image manipulation. Such conduct violates applicable laws and amounts to gross misuse of AI technologies.

Compliance Review and Legal Consequences

Meity has reiterated that non-compliance with these requirements will be taken seriously and may result in strict legal consequences against X, its responsible officers, and users violating the law. This will be enforced under the IT Act, IT Rules, BNSS, BNS, and other applicable laws. The ministry has asked X to undertake a comprehensive review of Grok's technical, procedural, and governance-level aspects.

This review should include prompt-processing, output generation, image handling, and safety guardrails. It aims to ensure that Grok does not generate or promote content containing nudity or sexually explicit material. On December 29, Meity had already asked social media firms to review their compliance frameworks against obscene content or face prosecution under Indian law.

After issuing an advisory, Meity observed that social media platforms were not strictly acting on inappropriate content. The ministry seeks immediate compliance to prevent hosting or sharing obscene content through Musk's startup xAI and its AI platform Grok.

With inputs from PTI