Malaysia and Indonesia Block Musk’s Grok AI Over Deepfake Safeguard Failures

The AI 'Wild West' has hit a regulatory wall in Southeast Asia. Malaysia and Indonesia have officially restricted access to Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, following explosive reports of the tool's misuse in creating non-consensual explicit deepfakes.

The Grok AI Deepfake Ban Malaysia Indonesia Timeline

The crackdown began over the weekend of January 11, 2026. Indonesian authorities were the first to act, citing concerns that xAI's Grok Imagine features allowed users to bypass safety filters to generate CSAM and pornographic deepfakes of public figures and private citizens alike.

Global Pressure Mounts on xAI

According to reports from Wired and the Internet Watch Foundation, the bot has been used to 'virtually strip' women wearing religious attire, such as hijabs and saris. This has sparked outrage across jurisdictions, with the EU and India reportedly considering their own probes.

In response, Elon Musk stated that creators of illegal content would face the same consequences as those who upload it directly to X. xAI has since limited image generation to paying subscribers, but regulators argue this is a 'pay-to-play' loophole rather than a genuine safety measure.