Indonesia announced on Saturday the temporary suspension of Grok, the artificial intelligence assistant of the X platform, owned by tycoon Elon Musk, following the scandal of fake pornographic images of naked people. These images, created by asking Grok to undress real people from their photos or videos, sparked protests around the world. “Anyone who uses Grok to create illegal content will face the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” Musk stated on X, where he has been touting the possibilities offered by Grok. “To protect women, children, and the public from the risks of fake pornographic content generated using artificial intelligence technology, the government has temporarily blocked access to the Grok app,” said Minister of Communications and Digitalization Meutya Hafid in a statement. “The government considers non-consensual deepfake practices a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital space,” the Ministry stressed in its statement, which summoned representatives of X to obtain clarification on this matter.

One of the leading social media markets

The government of Prabowo Subianto has requested that X, which has some 25 million registered accounts in Indonesia (the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country), “immediately provide clarification regarding the negative impacts of using Grok.”

The Communications Ministry “emphasized that, while the block is temporary, Grok’s future in Indonesia—one of the world’s largest social media markets—depends entirely on the platform’s willingness to implement strict content filters and ethical standards for artificial intelligence,” said the Indonesian state news agency Antara.

Debate in Europe

Questioned on X by numerous outraged users, Grok responded on Friday that image generation and editing will now be reserved for paying subscribers. This limited deactivation sparked outrage in the UK.one of Elon Musk's most virulent critics.

The measure “simply transforms a functionality that allows the creation of illegal images into a premium service” and constitutes “an insult to victims of misogyny and sexual violence,” denounced a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In Brussels, the European Commission “took note of the latest modifications” to the platform (which has already been at the center of other controversies), considering them insufficient.

lgc (afp, efe)