New Delhi, 2 January: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology took action against X Corp on Friday for failing to prevent the creation and circulation of obscene, nude, and offensive content on its platform.
The government has directed X Corp to submit an action taken report within 72 hours. This report should detail the immediate steps taken to stop hosting, creating, publishing, broadcasting, sharing, or uploading obscene, nude, offensive, and explicit content through misuse of AI-based services such as ‘Grok’ and other X AI services.
The directive emphasises that failure to comply will be taken seriously, and strict legal action may be initiated against the platform, its responsible officers, and offending users under the IT Act, IT Rules, BNS, BNS, and other applicable laws without any further notice.
The ministry has instructed X Corp to conduct a comprehensive review of the technical and administrative framework of Grok to prevent the creation of illegal content. This includes enforcing strict user policies, which may involve suspending or terminating accounts violating rules. It was also stated that all offensive content must be removed immediately without tampering with evidence.
The IT Ministry warned that non-compliance could lead to the withdrawal of ‘safe harbour’ protection under Section 79 of the IT Act and punitive action under laws including the BNS, the Act on Obscene Representation of Women, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
In the letter to X Corp, the ministry stated its belief that the platform is not properly adhering to regulatory provisions under the Information Technology Act, especially concerning obscene, offensive, indecent, pornographic literature, child sexual exploitation, or other illegal and harmful content that may violate existing laws.
The letter further underlined the seriousness of these lapses as they violate the dignity, privacy, and safety of women and children. It also risks normalising sexual harassment and exploitation on digital platforms, weakening the legal vigilance framework for intermediaries operating in India.
The letter specifically mentioned misuse of the Grok AI service developed and provided by X, where users are creating accounts to generate, publish, or share obscene and indecent images or videos of women in insulting ways.
This issue is not limited to fake accounts but also targets women who post their own pictures or videos. This is being done through prompts, image manipulation, and artificial outputs. According to the letter, this highlights a serious failure in platform-level security and enforcement mechanisms and represents gross misuse of artificial intelligence technologies in violation of applicable laws.
A copy of this notice was also sent to other key ministries, commissions, and state authorities, signalling coordinated action against the rise of obscenity facilitated by AI.
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My name is Bhupendra Singh Chundawat. I am an experienced content writer with several years of expertise in the field. Currently, I contribute to Daily Kiran, creating engaging and informative content across a variety of categories including technology, health, travel, education, and automobiles. My goal is to deliver accurate, insightful, and captivating information through my words to help readers stay informed and empowered.
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