Internet users can now return to X’s AI chatbot Grok after the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) lifted its ban, following the company’s fixes to the tool’s image-generation features that had raised safety and privacy concerns.

The agency confirmed Friday that the platform has addressed the immediate misuse concerns by implementing enhanced safeguards and stricter content moderation.

Additional measures

Additional measures include tighter limits on prompts involving real individuals and stronger enforcement of acceptable-use policies.

“Protecting Filipino users remains our paramount concern,” DICT Secretary Henry R. Aguda said.

“At the same time, we support responsible innovation and recognize the role of emerging technologies in national development, provided these technologies operate within the bounds of Philippine law and uphold human dignity,” he added.

To recall, the ban was imposed on 16 January following an inter-agency technical assessment led by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), in coordination with other government agencies.

Based on DICT assessments, Grok was found to be previously linked to generating non-consensual, sexually explicit, and manipulated images, prompting regulatory actions in other jurisdictions, including Indonesia and Malaysia.

Digital safety concerns

These issues raised serious concerns over digital safety, privacy, and the protection of vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.

To address this, DICT, together with the CICC and NTC, said it will continue monitoring xAI’s adherence to its self-policing and regulatory commitments, ensuring ongoing compliance with laws and safeguards against content-related cybercrime.

“We checked the safeguards that xAI has put in place, and we are satisfied,” CICC Deputy executive director Renato Paraiso said.