New Delhi, January 2, 2026 – The Indian government has issued a formal notice to social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, demanding the immediate removal of all obscene, vulgar, and unlawful content. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has expressed serious concerns regarding the platform's failure to adequately address the proliferation of such content, particularly that generated through its artificial intelligence (AI) app, Grok.
The directive, issued to the Chief Compliance Officer for India operations of X, cites failures to observe statutory due diligence obligations under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. MeitY has directed X to conduct a thorough review of the technical and governance framework of its AI tool Grok, remove all unlawful content, and take action against offending users. The platform has been given 72 hours to submit a detailed action taken report (ATR).
The government's concerns stem from increasing reports and representations from parliamentary stakeholders indicating that certain content circulating on X violates laws related to decency and obscenity. Specifically, the "Grok AI" service is allegedly being misused to create fake accounts that host, generate, publish, or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory and vulgar manner. The government has observed that this misuse extends beyond fake accounts, targeting women who post their own images or videos through prompts, image manipulation, and synthetic outputs.
MeitY's notice emphasizes that X must remove or disable access to all content that violates applicable laws without delay, adhering strictly to the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021. The ministry has warned that failure to comply with these directives could result in strict legal action against the platform under the IT Act, the IT Rules, and other applicable laws, including the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Non-compliance could also lead to the loss of legal protection under the IT Act.
The government's action follows a letter from Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging intervention on the misuse of Grok to create vulgar photos of women and disseminate them on social media. The order stated that the Grok AI service developed by X is being misused to create fake accounts that host, generate, publish or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory manner. It added that the misuse is not limited to fake profiles but also targets women who post their own images or videos, through prompts, image manipulation and synthetic outputs.
MeitY has reminded X that adherence to the IT Act and IT Rules, 2021, is mandatory, emphasizing that statutory exceptions under Section 79 of the IT Act are conditional upon full compliance with due diligence requirements. The ministry stressed that hosting, generating, publishing, transmitting, sharing, or uploading obscene, sexually explicit, or unlawful content, including through AI-driven tools, can result in severe legal consequences.
