Indonesia blocks access to Musk’s AI chatbot Grok over deepfake images

Indonesia has become the first country in the world to block Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot over the risk of fake, AI-generated pornographic content.

The country’s communication and digital affairs minister said on Saturday that “the practice of non-consensual sexual deepfakes” is a “serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital space”.

“In order to protect women, children, and the public from the risks of fake pornographic content generated using the artificial intelligence technology, the government … has temporarily blocked access to the Grok application,” Meutya Hafid said in a statement.

The move comes a day after Grok limited image generation and editing features on Musk’s social media platform X to paying subscribers as it sought to tamp down mounting criticism over the deepfakes.

Musk has been threatened with fines as several countries are pushing back publicly against Grok, which allowed users to alter online images to remove the subjects’ clothes.

The billionaire has said anyone using Grok to create illegal content would face the same consequences as uploading such material directly.

But European officials and tech campaigners slammed this week’s move to limit the AI tool’s features to paying subscribers on X, saying it failed to address their concerns.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office called the measure “insulting” to victims and “not a solution”.

“That simply turns an AI feature that allows the creation of unlawful images into a premium service,” a Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday. “It’s insulting the victims of misogyny and sexual violence.”

Indonesia’s culture and digital affairs ministry said on Saturday that it summoned X officials to discuss the matter.