Malaysia has recently lifted its ban on Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot, reversing one of the world’s initial prohibitions of the service. The ban was imposed earlier this month, with Malaysia and Indonesia quickly halting access due to alarming reports of the AI tool generating deepfake sexualized images, particularly targeting women and children. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) cited the need for stricter safeguards, stating that the ban would remain until X Corp and its parent company, xAI, could demonstrate they had implemented adequate protective measures against misuse.
In a subsequent update, the MCMC announced its satisfaction with the safety measures reported by Musk’s company, allowing access to Grok once again. Authorities emphasized their commitment to ongoing vigilance, stating they would respond decisively to any further infractions related to user safety or violations of Malaysian law.
As of now, Malaysia and Indonesia are the only countries to have enacted official bans on Grok. Meanwhile, UK regulator Ofcom has initiated a formal investigation into X in line with the country’s Online Safety Act due to the deepfake issue. In response to the situation, X has revised its image-editing policies, explicitly prohibiting the generation of revealing images of real individuals. According to the UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Grok reportedly generated around 3 million sexualized images within 11 days of late December, including approximately 23,000 involving children.
