New Delhi, Jan 4: Elon Musk-owned social media platform X on Sunday said it will remove illegal content, permanently suspend accounts involved in uploading such material and cooperate with local governments and law enforcement agencies, amid growing scrutiny over unlawful posts on the platform.
In a statement issued by X’s Global Government Affairs account, the company said users who create or upload illegal content—including through its AI service Grok—will face strict action. “Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content,” the platform said, echoing Musk’s remarks on X.
The statement said X takes action against illegal content, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing such material, permanently banning accounts and working with authorities wherever required. The platform also shared a link to its rules, which permit consensually produced adult content if properly labelled and not prominently displayed.
The clarification comes after directions from India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), which on January 2 ordered X to immediately remove vulgar, obscene and unlawful content, particularly that generated using Grok, or face legal action. Meity has also asked the platform to submit a detailed action taken report within 72 hours.
The ministry noted that it has received complaints, including from parliamentary stakeholders, that certain content on X may violate Indian laws relating to decency and obscenity. It said Grok AI was being misused to generate and circulate fake, derogatory and obscene images or videos of women through fake accounts.
Earlier, Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had written to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking urgent intervention over the alleged misuse of Grok to create vulgar images of women.
On December 29, Meity had issued an advisory to social media platforms, asking them to review their compliance frameworks and take immediate action against obscene and unlawful content, warning of prosecution for failure to comply. (Agencies)
