Elon Musk’s X faces legal action by Malaysia over Grok sexual images

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia said it will take legal action against Mr Elon Musk’s X for failing to protect users in the South-east Asian nation, just days after it

banned the artificial intelligence tool Grok

over its generation of sexual content.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it will commence legal proceedings shortly against X Corp and Mr Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI LLC.

It said it is pursuing it with Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications.

“This action concerns their failure to ensure user safety in Malaysia in relation to the use of Grok,” the communications regulator said in a statement on Jan 13.

The move marks an escalation in Malaysia’s actions against X as the government seeks to shield citizens from harmful online content.

Earlier on Jan 13, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said MCMC had contacted X and requested feedback on Grok, which had features that violate Malaysian laws, including the ability to

create inappropriate deepfake images of underage children

and women.

Tech company xAI, the firm which develops Grok and runs X, is owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

Mr Fahmi said: “However, the response we received from X was not satisfactory and, after being informed of this by the MCMC, I ordered that

access to the Grok chatbot be temporarily blocked

.

“We have requested further discussions but are also considering legal action against the platform.”

Malaysia on Jan 11 joined Indonesia in restricting access to Grok, citing repeated misuse of the tool to generate “obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and non-consensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors.” 

X did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

An email to xAI yielded the response “Legacy Media Lies.” BLOOMBERG, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK