Malaysia lifts Grok ban

Will the Philippines follow Malaysia’s lead in restoring access to Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot — and will the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) verify if the platform has actually implemented the safeguards it promised?

Malaysia on Friday lifted its temporary restriction on Grok after blocking the AI tool nearly two weeks ago over concerns that it was being used to generate sexualized deepfakes.

In a statement, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the restriction on the use of Grok on the X platform was lifted “effective today,” following confirmation that the platform had implemented “additional preventive and security measures.”

The watchdog did not specify what those measures were.

MCMC stated that it suspended Grok on X and xAI on 11 January and appointed solicitors to initiate legal proceedings, without specifying the charges or actions being considered.

The commission said Malaysian officials and X representatives met on Wednesday for clarification and commitments on preventive measures and compliance with Malaysian law.

It added that X confirmed the required security measures had been implemented and that compliance would continue to be monitored by authorities.

Malaysia last week warned it would pursue legal action against X and xAI if the platforms failed to act on the issue.

Concerns over Grok intensified after researchers said the chatbot generated an estimated three million sexualized images of women and children in a matter of days, fueling global outrage.

Following the backlash, X announced it would “geoblock the ability” of Grok and X users to create images of people in “bikinis, underwear, and similar attire” in jurisdictions where such content is illegal.