Malaysia lifts Grok ban after X implements safety measures against deepfake abuse

Malaysia lifts ban on Grok after taking X at its word

After being one of the first countries in the world to block Elon Musk's Grok chatbot, Malaysia has now lifted its ban. Along with Indonesia, the country moved swiftly to temporarily to X's frequently controversial AI chatbot earlier this month, after multiple emerged of it being used to generate deepfake sexualized images of people, including women and children. At the time, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the restrictions would remain in place until X Corp and parent xAI could prove they had enforced the necessary safeguards against misuse of the above nature. Malaysian authorities appear to be taking X at its word, after the MCMC released a confirming it was satisfied that Musk's company has implemented the required safety measures. It added that the authorities will continue to monitor the social media platform, and that any further user safety breaches or violations of Malaysian laws would be dealt with firmly. At the time of writing, only Malaysia and Indonesia have hit Grok with official bans, though UK regulator Ofcom opened a formal into X under the country's Online Safety Act, in the wake of the non-consensual sexual deepfake scandal. X has since its image-editing policies, and on January 14 the company said Grok will no longer allow "the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis." Earlier this week, the UK-based non-profit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), that in the 11-day period between December 29 and January 9, generated approximately 3 million sexualized images, around 23,000 of which were of children.

Malaysia lifts suspension on Musk's Grok chatbot

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) suspended the service on X and xAI on January 11 and appointed solicitors to commence "legal proceedings", without specifying what that would entail. Malaysian officials and X representatives met Wednesday for clarification and commitments on X's preventive measures and its compliance with Malaysian law, the MCMC said. Malaysia said Friday it had restored access to Elon Musk's Grok chatbot on Friday after the AI tool was blocked nearly two weeks ago over concerns about AI-generated sexualised deepfakes. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) suspended the service on X and xAI on January 11 and appointed solicitors to commence "legal proceedings", without specifying what that would entail. But it said in a statement on Friday: "The temporary access restriction on the use of the Grok application on the X platform has been lifted effective today." This followed "confirmation of the implementation of additional preventive and security measures by the platform", the state media watchdog said. It did not specifically state what measures had been taken. Malaysian officials and X representatives met Wednesday for clarification and commitments on X's preventive measures and its compliance with Malaysian law, the MCMC said. It said X confirmed the required security measures had been implemented, adding that its compliance was being monitored by authorities. Malaysia last week threatened legal action against X and xAI if the platforms failed to take action. Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised images of women and children in a matter of days, researchers said on Thursday, revealing the scale of the explicit content that sparked a global outcry. Last week, following the global outrage, X announced that it would "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.

Malaysia lifts ban on Elon Musk's Grok AI

Malaysia's communications regulator lifted its temporary ban on Elon Musk's AI service Grok after the social media platform X added safety measures to prevent the generation of deepfake images of people. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, or MCMC, said the decision Malaysia lifted the ban because X implemented safety measures to prevent Grok from generating harmful deepfake images, satisfying regulatory demands. X and xAI agreed to comply with Malaysian laws and introduced preventive security measures for Grok, including restricting generation of certain deepfake images. The regulator was concerned about Grok generating and spreading harmful, obscene, or manipulated non-consensual images of real people.