Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images, with Indonesia blocking access on the 10th January 2026 and Malaysia following the next day. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian nations said existing controls were not preventing the creation and spread of fake pornographic content.
Initial findings showed that Grok lacks effective safeguards to stop users from creating and distributing pornographic content based on real photos of Indonesian residents, according to Alexander Sabar, director general of digital space supervision at Indonesia's communications ministry. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission stated that X's insufficient replies have relied primarily on user-initiated reporting mechanisms and failed to address the inherent risks posed by the design and operation of the AI tool. During the week preceding the ban, Grok limited image generation and editing to paying users following a global backlash over sexualised deepfakes of people, but critics say it did not fully address the problem. A UK watchdog, the Internet Watch Foundation, said that its analysts had discovered criminal imagery of children aged between 11 and 13, which appears to have been created using Grok.
According to Indonesian and Malaysian authorities, the restriction is imposed as a preventive measure while legal and regulatory processes are ongoing, with access to Grok remaining restricted until effective safeguards are implemented, particularly to prevent content involving women and children. Both Indonesia and Malaysia maintain strict anti-pornography laws, which ban the sharing of obscene and sexual content online more broadly. The Southeast Asian restrictions come amid mounting scrutiny of Grok elsewhere, including in the European Union, Britain, India and France.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/12/nx-s1-5674660/malaysia-indonesia-block-grok-ai-deepfakes
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/malaysia-indonesia-block-elon-musks-grok-obscene-non-consensual-content.html
