Indonesia imposed a temporary block on Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot Saturday, followed by Malaysia on Sunday. Both countries became the first to ban an AI chatbot entirely, citing the same failure: Grok was generating thousands of sexualized images of real women and minors without consent, and existing safeguards weren’t stopping it.
Indonesia’s Communications Minister Meutya Hafid called it “digital-based violence” and a serious human rights violation. The scale backs that up. Researcher Genevieve Oh found Grok producing roughly 6,700 sexually suggestive images per hour during a 24-hour analysis period. By comparison, the five other leading deepfake websites averaged just 79 new images hourly. Sexualized content accounted for 85% of all images Grok generated.
Damilare Odedina
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission was blunt about why xAI’s responses fell short: they “relied primarily on user-initiated reporting mechanisms” and failed to address the risks built into the tool itself. Asking users to report abuse after the fact doesn’t prevent it from happening.
Both countries issued notices earlier this month demanding stronger protections. When responses came back insufficient, they blocked access. Malaysia said restrictions remain “until effective safeguards are implemented, particularly to prevent content involving women and children.”
xAI attempted damage control last week by restricting image generation to paying subscribers only. Regulators weren’t impressed. A UK Prime Minister spokesperson called it “not a solution” and “insulting” to victims. European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier echoed: “Paid subscription or non-paid subscription, we don’t want to see such images.”
Regulatory pressure is building globally. The EU ordered X to retain all internal documents relating to Grok until end of 2026 as part of an investigation. France, India, and Brazil have launched separate probes.
According to Home Security Heroes, deepfake pornography accounts for 98% of all deepfake videos online, with 99% of targets being women.
Indonesia and Malaysia just showed other governments how to follow through. The shift from warnings to enforcement is the real story here.
Emmanuel Umahi
