Social media platform X has accepted its mistake and assured the government that it will operate in accordance with Indian law, government sources said.
As part of the action taken, around 3,500 pieces of content have been blocked and more than 600 accounts have been deleted. The steps were taken after concerns were raised over the circulation of obscene imagery on the platform.
Government sources said X has also given an assurance that such content will not be allowed on the platform in the future. The company has agreed to strengthen its content moderation processes to ensure compliance with Indian regulations going forward.
The action comes days after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology raised concern over the generation of indecent and sexually explicit content through AI services like Grok.
Earlier, on January 2, the IT ministry had ordered X to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene, and unlawful content, especially that generated via Grok, warning that failure to comply would result in action under the IT Act and other applicable laws.
The order asked X to file a detailed Action Taken Report within 72 hours. The report must clearly explain the technical and administrative steps taken in relation to Grok, the level of supervision exercised by the Chief Compliance Officer, and the action initiated against objectionable content, users and accounts.
It also requires the company to outline the systems put in place to ensure compliance with mandatory reporting obligations under Indian law.
The ministry observed that Grok AI is being misused not just for creating fake profiles, but also to harass and target women who appear in images or videos posted online. This misuse includes the use of prompts, image editing and the generation of synthetic content to abuse or manipulate their visuals.
Later on January 8, X also submitted a lengthy reply to the IT Ministry, which the Indian government described as “detailed but not adequate."
