Indonesia Puts Temporary Ban On Grok After AI-Bot Generated Sexualised Images

The government of Indonesia has temporarily blocked Grok, the chatbot interface of Elon Musk's company X (formerly Twitter.) The country is the first nation ‌to deny access to Grok, or any ​AI tool.

The ban was announced on ‍Saturday and the Indonesian government cited the AI-generated ​pornographic content that Grok had generated over the past week.

Grok's AI-generated images have caused a controversy across the world, and sparked a conversation around online sexual harassment of women. Governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the AI chatbot's actions, and of the users who prompted the app. Some nations have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app.

The company behind Grok, xAI, had said on Thursday, January 8, 2026, that it ⁠had restricted image generation and editing to paying subscribers. The company added that it tried to fix safeguard lapses ​that had allowed for sexualised images to be outputted, which included depictions of scantily-clad children.

"The government views the practice of non-consensual sexual deepfakes as ‌a serious violation of human ‌rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital ‍space," Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement.

The Ministry also summoned X officials to discuss the matter.

Musk said on X (formerly, Twitter) that anyone using Grok to make illegal content would suffer the same consequences as if they had uploaded illegal content.

According to Reuters, xAI replied to the agency's email ⁠for comment with what seemed to be an automated response: "Legacy ​Media Lies". X did not immediately respond ⁠to a request for comment.