Indonesia has become the first nation to impose a comprehensive ban on Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, citing serious concerns about the platform’s capability to generate non-consensual explicit content. The decisive action was announced on Saturday by Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid, who characterized the move as necessary for public protection.
The suspension follows international scrutiny of Grok’s image generation feature, which reportedly enabled users to create sexually explicit depictions of women and children through simple text commands. This functionality has sparked global condemnation from digital rights advocates and government officials alike.
Minister Hafid emphasized the government’s position in an official statement: “To safeguard women, children, and the general public from the dangers of AI-generated fake pornographic material, the administration has instituted a temporary blockade of the Grok application.” She further noted that Indonesian authorities consider non-consensual deepfake production “a grave infringement upon human rights, personal dignity, and digital security.”
In parallel with the ban, Indonesian officials have summoned representatives from social media platform X, which hosts Grok, to provide clarification regarding the controversial AI tool. Despite the restrictions, AFP correspondents in Jakarta observed that Grok’s official X account remained operational and responsive to Indonesian-language inquiries as of Saturday evening.
The controversy extends beyond Indonesia’s borders. European regulators and technology activists have criticized xAI’s previous response—limiting Grok’s availability to premium subscribers—as insufficient addressing fundamental concerns about sexually explicit deepfake content. Musk previously stated that Grok users creating illegal content would face consequences equivalent to those uploading prohibited material directly.
xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup responsible for developing Grok, had not issued an immediate response to Indonesia’s regulatory action at the time of reporting.