Centre orders X to immediately remove ‘obscene, sexually explicit' content

The ministry has sought a report towards immediate compliance for the prevention of generation or uploading of obscene and sexually explicit content.

The Centre has ordered social media platform X to immediately remove and disable “obscene, nude, indecent and sexually explicit content” through the misuse of AI-based platforms like Grok, citing the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT Rules, 2021.

A 3D-printed miniature model of Elon Musk and the X logo are seen in this illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (REUTERS)

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in a letter to the Chief Compliance Officer of the Elon Musk-owned social media platform, undertake an immediate comprehensive review of Grok and remove or disable access to unlawful content.

“It has especially been observed that the service namely “Grok AI” developed by you and integrated and made available on the X platform is being misused by users to create fake accounts to host, generate, publish or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory or vulgar manner in order to indecently denigrate them,” the letter from MeitY read.

The government has also directed X to take action against offending content, users and accounts. It also directed the social media platform to submit a detailed action taken report (ATR) within 72 hours of the date when the order was issued.

The government said it has received from time to time, including through public discourse and representations from various parliamentary stakeholders, that certain categories of content circulating on X may not be in compliance with applicable laws relating to decency and obscenity.

The development comes after Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi had written a letter to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, seeking urgent intervention on increasing incidents of the AI app Grok being misused to create vulgar photos of women and post them on social media.