Centre Directs X To Remove Vulgar AI Content Or Face Action

There has been much concern over the growing misuse of AI applications to create and circulate obscene images of women on social media. The applications have also been used against politicians.
Shiv Sena-UBT Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had recently written to Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw pointing to the trend where men were using fake accounts to post women's photos and pushing out prompts to minimise their clothing and sexualise them through the misuse of the Al Grok feature.

“It is not just limited to sharing photos through fake accounts but are also targeting women who post their own photos. This is unacceptable and gross misuse of an Al function,” Chaturvedi said. What is worse is that Grok is enabling this behaviour by adhering to such requests, Chaturvedi said.

The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) issued the notice to the chief compliance officer for X’s India operations for alleged failure to comply with statutory due diligence obligations under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The ministry directed X to remove or disable access, without delay, to all content generated or disseminated in violation of applicable laws, in strict adherence to the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021, while ensuring that evidence is not tampered with.

The ministry also sought an action-taken report, calling for immediate compliance to prevent the hosting, generation, publication, transmission or sharing of obscene, nude, indecent and sexually explicit content through the misuse of AI-based services such as Grok.

The order warned that non-compliance would be viewed seriously and could invite strict legal consequences against the platform, its responsible officers and users found violating the law, under the IT Act, the IT Rules, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and other applicable laws.

Earlier in the day, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said social media platforms must be held accountable for the content they publish, noting that a parliamentary standing committee has already recommended a stringent law to fix responsibility.

Responding to concerns over Grok allegedly generating indecent and vulgar images of women, the minister said, “Social media should be responsible for the content they publish. Intervention is required.”

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting has earlier recommended that the government strengthen laws to make social media and intermediary platforms more accountable, particularly in curbing fake and unlawful content.