Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines temporarily block X's Grok over sexualised AI images

What he said or did

Indonesia temporarily blocked the Grok chatbot, followed by Malaysia the next day and the Philippines on 16 January, citing sexualised deepfake images generated from real photos.

Background

Indonesia's minister Meutya Hafid called non-consensual sexual deepfakes a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens; Malaysia's regulator cited repeated misuse.

Official response

AP reported that requests for comment to xAI received an automated reply reading Legacy Media Lies. Malaysia's regulator said X's replies relied mainly on user reporting.

What happened next

The Philippines lifted its block on 21 January after checking xAI's safeguards; Malaysia and Indonesia restored access by late January after X implemented additional measures.

Sources

NPR
12 Jan 2026
Anchorage Daily News (AP)
12 Jan 2026
ContentAsia
26 Jan 2026

This entry records what was publicly said or done, as reported by the sources above. Quotes are attributed to the person who made them.

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