Indonesia blocks Grok over deepfake pornography risks
Indonesia temporarily blocked access to Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, after users exploited its image generation feature to create non-consensual sexual images of real people. The move made Indonesia the first country to impose a comprehensive ban on the system over deepfake pornography risks.
What happened
Grok's image generation feature allowed users to create non-consensual sexual images of women and children by processing their photographs with simple instructions.
Some X platform users generated fake sexually explicit content of real people and shared it on the platform, affecting hundreds of adult women and minors.
On January 10, 2026, Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs temporarily blocked access to Grok, becoming the first country to impose a comprehensive ban.
Reported impact
The government stated it sought to protect women, children and the public from risks of AI-generated fake pornographic content.
Officials said non-consensual deepfakes seriously violated human rights, dignity and citizens' digital space security.
Index analysis
Other regions restricted Grok access to paying subscribers in response to the controversy, but Indonesia imposed a full block.
European officials and technology advocates criticized limiting the tool to paid users as insufficient to address social concerns about sexually explicit deepfakes.
Governance controls
Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs summoned representatives of the X platform to explain the situation.
Elon Musk responded to a post about the issue, stating that anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same legal consequences as those uploading illegal material.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.