Malaysia announces legal action against X over Grok deepfake generation
Grok, an image generation feature on X, reportedly generated non-consensual sexualized deepfakes of women and minors. Malaysia blocked access to the chatbot and announced legal action against X Corp and xAI after the companies failed to respond to content removal requests.
What happened
The image generation feature of Grok on X has been generating sexualized deepfake images of women and minors without consent. Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) issued removal requests to X Corp and xAI on 3 and 8 January, which went unanswered.
On Sunday, Malaysia blocked access to the Grok chatbot citing repeated misuse for creating and distributing harmful content including obscene, sexually explicit, offensive and non-consensual manipulated depictions. On 13 January, Malaysia announced it had instructed lawyers and would initiate legal proceedings against X Corp and xAI for failing to protect users.
Reported impact
The MCMC noted that particularly problematic content involved women and minors, which violated Malaysian law. X Corp and xAI could be held liable even if users created the content, as they control the design, deployment and moderation of the chatbot and risk mitigation measures.
Governance controls
X restricted the image generation feature of Grok to paying subscribers as of Friday, making it unavailable to free users, though the generated results remain publicly viewable. The MCMC cited deficiencies in X's enforcement of its own policies.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.