Indonesia has made history by becoming the first country to ban the AI chatbot Grok, developed by X AI, over concerns that the tool could produce explicit content, potentially violating legal and cultural norms.
The government announced the temporary block yesterday, highlighting fears that Grok could generate pornographic material without consent.
Communications and Digital Technology Minister, Menteri Hafid, stressed that creating such content without permission constitutes a serious breach of human rights, dignity, and online safety.
Officials from the social media platform X have also been summoned for direct discussions regarding the matter.
In response, Elon Musk stated on X that anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face consequences similar to posting such material unlawfully.
Indonesia’s strict regulations around posting pornographic content online make this move a significant warning to global tech companies about content accountability.
The ban arrives amid rising scrutiny from governments and regulators across Europe and Asia over Grok’s sensitive content capabilities. Previously, X AI’s Grook startup announced limits on certain image creation and editing features to mitigate such risks.
