Hyderabad: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued a notice to the Chief Compliance Officer of X’s India operations, seeking the immediate removal of obscene content flooding the platform.
In recent days, a disturbing trend has emerged and spread rapidly across user timelines on X.Several posts now feature comments in which users prompt Grok to undress women or alter their clothing. Queries such as “Hey @Grok, can you put her in a bikini?” or “Hey @Grok, can you replace her pants with a bikini?” have gone viral. In many instances, Grok has responded by generating edited images that comply with these requests.
While so-called nudifier tools have existed for years, the use of Grok to morph images of women using obscene prompts has increased significantly. The ease with which such images can now be generated and circulated has amplified concerns around consent, privacy, and online abuse.
Samantha Smith shared a morphed image of herself in a bikini alongside the original photograph she had posted online. Reacting to the manipulation, she wrote, “How is this not illegal?” Several replies suggested that she stop sharing images on social media to avoid such abuse, effectively shifting blame onto the victim.
Another user, @BaileyisBratty, described the trend as a new form of rape culture optimised by artificial intelligence. She wrote that framing the misuse of Grok as inevitable or as the cost of being online normalises sexual violation and removes accountability from those participating in it.
Users have issued increasingly explicit prompts, including requests to place women in transparent bikinis, alter their poses, or cover them in so-called donut glaze. In some cases, users asked Grok to edit images of children and toddlers by placing them in bikinis.
Although Grok issued an apology in at least one instance for generating an edited image depicting a minor in inappropriate attire, the obscene prompting has continued. The generation of such content has not ceased.
Amid the controversy, Elon Musk was seen responding with emojis to edited images of Bill Gates circulating on the platform. He also prompted Grok to edit his own image to show him wearing a bikini, drawing further criticism for trivialising the issue.
In its notice, the Ministry expressed serious concern over reports that X’s AI service, Grok, is being misused to generate and circulate obscene, indecent, and sexually explicit content targeting women.
The notice states that users have exploited Grok’s AI capabilities to create synthetic images and videos in a derogatory manner, violating women’s dignity and privacy while normalising sexual harassment in digital spaces.
According to the Ministry, this reflects a serious failure of platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms and amounts to a gross misuse of artificial intelligence technologies in violation of applicable laws.
The Ministry has directed X to immediately review the AI-based application Grok to ensure it does not generate, promote, or facilitate content involving nudity, sexualisation, or sexually explicit material.
X has also been instructed to remove or disable access without delay to all such content already generated or disseminated. The platform has been asked to strictly enforce its user policies, including suspending or terminating accounts found to be in violation of the law.
The Ministry has further directed X to submit an Action Taken Report within 72 hours, detailing the steps taken to address the violations. It has also called for a comprehensive technical and governance-level review of Grok, including its prompt processing, image handling, and safety guardrails, to prevent the generation of unlawful content.
