MeitY issues notice to X over misuse of Grok to create 'obscene' content
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday issued a notice to Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, flagging non compilaince with India’s Information Technology Act and IT Rules.
“It has been reported and represented from time to time, including through public discourse and representations from various parliamentary stakeholders that certain categories of content circulating on your platform may not be in compliance with applicable laws relating to decency and obscenity,” a detailed four-page order by the MeitY said.
A copy of the order has been reviewed by ET.
Earlier on Friday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Thursday wrote to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, raising concerns over the misuse of AI tools including Grok.
“...a new trend that has emerged on social media, especially on X, by misusing their Al Grok feature where men are using fake accounts to post women's photos and pushing out prompts to Grok to minimise their clothing and sexualise them,” she wrote.
In its notice to X (formerly Twitter), the MeitY asked the company to “immediately undertake a comprehensive technical, procedural and governance-level review” of Grok, including its prompt-processing, output generation, image handling and safety guardrails, “so as to ensure that the application does not generate, promote or facilitate content, which contains nudity, sexualisation, sexually explicit or otherwise unlawful content in any form”.
It has also asked the social media company to submit an action-taken report within 72 hours of the issuance of the notice, warning that non-compliance may result in “strict legal consequences” against the platform.
“It has been reported and represented from time to time, including through public discourse and representations from various parliamentary stakeholders that certain categories of content circulating on your platform may not be in compliance with applicable laws relating to decency and obscenity,” a detailed four-page order by the MeitY said.
A copy of the order has been reviewed by ET.
Earlier on Friday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Thursday wrote to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, raising concerns over the misuse of AI tools including Grok.
“...a new trend that has emerged on social media, especially on X, by misusing their Al Grok feature where men are using fake accounts to post women's photos and pushing out prompts to Grok to minimise their clothing and sexualise them,” she wrote.
In its notice to X (formerly Twitter), the MeitY asked the company to “immediately undertake a comprehensive technical, procedural and governance-level review” of Grok, including its prompt-processing, output generation, image handling and safety guardrails, “so as to ensure that the application does not generate, promote or facilitate content, which contains nudity, sexualisation, sexually explicit or otherwise unlawful content in any form”.
It has also asked the social media company to submit an action-taken report within 72 hours of the issuance of the notice, warning that non-compliance may result in “strict legal consequences” against the platform.
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