Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi | Photo Credit: ANI

The Indian government on Friday has cautioned X’s (formerly Twitter) artificial intelligence (Al)-based application ‘Grok’, to ensure it does not generate, promote or facilitate content which contains nudity, sexualisation, sexually explicit or otherwise unlawful content in any form whatsoever.

In a directive to Chief Compliance Offrcer, X, India Operations, the Ministry for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has told the company to immediately undertake a comprehensive technical, procedural and governance-level review of Grok, including its prompt-processing, output-generation (responses generated using Large Language Models (LLMs), image handling and safety guardrails, so as to avoid such content.

“Remove or disable access, without delay, to all content already generated or disseminated in violation of applicable laws, in strict compliance with the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021,without vitiating the evidence in any manner,”MeitY said in the directive.

The development came after Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP, Priyanka Chaturvedi writing to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, urging immediate intervention over the alleged abuse of X’s AI chatbot Grok that violates women’s privacy.

“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. I write to you as an active member of the Standing Committee on IT and Communication to urge you as a Minister to take this up strongly with X to ensure safeguards are built in their AI apps to make the platform a safe space for women,” she wrote.

Reacting to Chaturvedi’s letter, the MeitY has asked X to submit a detailed Action Taken Report (ATR) to the Ministry including covering the above aspects, at the earliest and in any case not later than 72 hours from the date of issuance of directives, covering specific technical and organisational measures adopted or proposed in relation to the Grok application; the role and oversight exercised by the Chief Compliance Officer; actions taken against offending content, users and accounts; and mechanisms put in place to ensure compliance with the mandatory reporting requirement under section 33 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

Section 33 of the BNSS, 2023, mandates that any person aware of certain serious offenses under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) must, without delay, inform the nearest Magistrate or police officer, with failure to do so punishable if there’s no reasonable excuse, shifting the burden of proof.

MeitY further told the company to ensure ongoing, demonstrable and auditable compliance with all due diligence obligations under the IT Act and the IT Rules, 2021, failing which appropriate action may be initiated, including the loss of the exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act, and consequential action as provided under any law including the IT Act and the BNS.

“It is reiterated that hosting, generation, publication, transmission, sharing, or uploading of obscene, nude, indecent, sexually explicit, vulgar, paedophilic content or any content that is invasive of another’s privacy including bodily privacy or otherwise unlawful, including through Al-enabled systems and tools, attracts serious penal consequences under multiple statutes,” it added.

Published on January 2, 2026