The Centre warned that failure to comply would be viewed seriously and could result in strict legal consequences against the platform
Digital Desk: The Social media platform X has blocked more than 3,500 posts and deleted 600 accounts after the Union government flagged the presence of obscene and explicit content on the platform, government sources said. X has assured the Centre that it will not permit such content and will comply with all applicable government regulations.
The action follows a directive issued last week by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which raised concerns over the misuse of artificial intelligence tools on X, including its AI assistant Grok. The ministry had asked X Corp, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, to submit an action-taken report within 72 hours, seeking immediate compliance to prevent the hosting, generation, publication, or transmission of obscene, nude, indecent, and explicit content through AI-based services such as Grok and xAI’s other tools.
The Centre warned that failure to comply would be viewed seriously and could result in strict legal consequences against the platform and concerned officials under Indian law. According to the ministry, it was observed that users were misusing Grok to create or operate accounts that generate and circulate obscene images and videos of women in a derogatory and vulgar manner.
MeitY directed X to conduct a comprehensive review of Grok’s technical and governance frameworks to ensure such content is not generated. The ministry also instructed that strict user policies be enforced, including the suspension or termination of accounts found violating the rules.
The notice further cautioned that non-compliance could lead to the loss of safe harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act, and invite penal action under laws such as the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Indecent Representation of Women Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The ministry clarified that the misuse is not limited to fake accounts but also involves the manipulation of images and synthetic outputs targeting women, calling it a serious failure of platform safeguards and a gross misuse of artificial intelligence technologies.
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