Komdigi Opens Again Access to Elon Musk's Grok After Being Blocked for Sexual Content

Jakarta - The Indonesian government has allowed the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, owned by the xAI company founded by Elon Musk, to operate in the country after being blocked for three weeks due to concerns about the emergence of AI-based sexual and pornographic content.

The Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) stated that the reopening of Grok access was conditional and under the strict supervision of the government. This decision was taken after X Corp as the operator of the X platform and xAI submitted a written commitment to improve the service and prevent the misuse of the AI feature.

"The normalization of access to Grok services is conditional after X Corp submitted a written commitment containing concrete steps for service improvement and prevention of abuse. This commitment is the basis for evaluation, not the end of the supervision process," said Director General of Digital Space Supervision, Ministry of Communication and Digital, Alexander Sabar, in an official statement. Sunday, February 1.

Indonesia was previously the first country in the world to officially stop Grok's operations, citing the risk of spreading pornography content produced by artificial intelligence that was considered contrary to laws and norms in force in the country.

In his statement, Komdigi said the government was processing the restoration of Grok access "conditionally and under strict supervision". Alexander Sabar added, X has implemented a number of layered steps to suppress the potential for abuse of Grok.

"These layered measures will continue to be verified and evaluated by the government," he said.

Until this news was released, neither X nor xAI have responded to requests for comment sent via email outside of business hours.

The Grok case has become a global spotlight. A number of governments and regulators, from Europe to Asia, have condemned the emergence of sexual content generated by the chatbot. Some authorities have even opened investigations into potential violations of laws and ethics of using AI.

Indonesia is not the only country in Southeast Asia that has blocked Grok. Last week, Malaysia also restored access to the chatbot after it was blocked for almost two weeks due to concerns over the spread of AI-based sexual deepfakes.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) suspended Grok's services on the X and xAI platforms on January 11, and appointed a law firm to initiate legal proceedings, although it did not specify the steps to be taken.

However, MCMC later stated that the temporary restrictions had been lifted. "The temporary restrictions on the use of the Grok application on the X platform have been lifted and are effective today," said the statement from the Malaysian media regulatory authority.

The decision, according to the MCMC, was taken after there was "confirmation of the implementation of additional prevention and security measures by the platform", although it was not explained in detail.

With the reopening of Grok's access in Indonesia, the government emphasized that supervision would continue to be carried out to ensure that artificial intelligence technology does not violate national laws and is not misused to produce content that harms society.