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ARTICLE AD BOX
The ministry of electronics and IT has sent a missive to X (formerly Twitter), the societal media website owned by Elon Musk on, pointing retired failures successful moderating AI-generated contented connected its platform.
The ministry highlighted concerns that the Grok and different services of xAI person been utilized to make and administer obscene oregon non-consensual images, peculiarly targeting the dignity and privateness of women.
Through the letter, the authorities has besides sought a study connected the actions taken by the company, and the contiguous removal of amerciable materials. The authorities has besides asked X to enforce the required AI guardrails, and taxable a elaborate Action Taken Report not aboriginal than 72 hours oregon hazard losing its statutory immunity from ineligible liability. Failure to comply with these directives “may effect successful strict ineligible consequences against your platform, its liable officers and the users connected the level who interruption the law, without immoderate further notice”.
Read afloat ‘warning’ missive to X (Twitter)
To,The Chief Compliance Officer, X Corp., (formerly Twitter), India OperationsIt has been reported and represented from clip to time, including done nationalist sermon and representations from assorted parliamentary stakeholders that definite categories of contented circulating connected your level whitethorn not beryllium successful compliance with applicable laws relating to decency and obscenity. It has particularly been observed that the work namely "Grok Al" developed by you and integrated and made disposable connected the X platform, is being misused by users to make fake accounts to host, generate, people oregon stock obscene images oregon videos of women successful a derogatory oregon vulgar mode successful bid to indecently denigrate them. Importantly, this is not constricted to instauration of fake accounts but besides targets women who big oregon people their images oregon videos, done prompts, representation manipulation and synthetic outputs. Such behaviour reflects a superior nonaccomplishment of platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms, and amounts to gross misuse of artificial quality technologies successful usurpation of applicable laws.2. In this context, and without prejudice to enactment taken oregon being taken by authorised agencies nether applicable laws, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ("Ministry"/ "MeitY") is of the presumption that the regulatory provisions nether the Information Technology Act, 2000("IT Act") and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ("IT Rules, 2021) are not being adequately adhered to by your platform, peculiarly successful narration to obscene, indecent, vulgar, pomographic, paedophilic, oregon different unlawful oregon harmful contented which are perchance violative of extant laws.3. The aforesaid acts and omissions are viewed with sedate concern, arsenic they person the effect of violating the dignity, privateness and information of women and children, normalising intersexual harassment and exploitation successful integer spaces, and undermining the statutory owed diligence model applicable to intermediaries operating successful India.4. Attention is invited to the Advisory issued by MeitY connected 29.12.2025, peculiarly paragraph 9 thereof, wherein each intermediaries person been unequivocally advised to undertake an contiguous reappraisal of their interior compliance frameworks, contented moderation practices and idiosyncratic enforcement mechanisms, and to guarantee strict and continuous adherence to the provisions of the IT Act and the IT Rules, 2021.5. X, being a important societal media intermediary, is hereby reminded that compliance with the IT Act and the IT Rules, 2021 is not optional, and that the statutory exemptions nether conception 79 of the IT Act are conditional upon strict observance of owed diligence obligations, including but not constricted to Rules 3 and 4 of the IT Rules, 2021:• Rule 4(9): work to supply further accusation which whitethorn see immoderate clarifications and Action Taken Reports arsenic whitethorn beryllium sought by the Ministry.• Rule 4(1)(a): assignment and effectual functioning of a Chief Compliance Officer, who shall beryllium liable and liable for ensuring compliance with the Act and the Rules;• Rules 3(1Kb) and 3(1(d): work to forestall hosting, publication, transmission oregon sharing of unlawful contented by making tenable efforts and to region oregon disable entree expeditiously to immoderate specified accusation that is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, harmful to women and child, oregon different unlawful, and strictly wrong the prescribed timelines upon receipt of existent knowledge, done tribunal orders oregon reasoned intimation from the Appropriate Government oregon its authorised agency;• Rule 3(1Xi): work to furnish accusation and widen assistance lawfully sought by the Government oregon its authorised agencies, strictly wrong the timelines specified, for the purposes of verification of identity, oregon for the prevention, detection, investigation, oregon prosecution, of offences nether immoderate instrumentality for the clip being successful force; and• Rule 3(2), Rule 4(4): work to deploy accessible reporting and grievance redressal systems nether Rule 3(2), portion additionally deploying technology-based measures nether Rule 4(4), including automated tools oregon different mechanisms, to proactively forestall the dissemination of specified obscene, vulgar and indecent contented and guarantee timely compliance with removal requirements.• Rule 3(2)(b): work to region oregon disable entree to immoderate contented which is prima facie successful the quality of worldly depicting an idiosyncratic successful immoderate intersexual enactment oregon conduct, oregon immoderate impersonation thereof, wrong twenty-four hours of receipt of a ailment from the affected idiosyncratic oregon immoderate idiosyncratic connected specified individual's behalf.6. It is reiterated that hosting, generation, publication, transmission, sharing, oregon uploading of obscene, nude, indecent, sexually explicit, vulgar, pedophilic contented oregon immoderate contented that is invasive of another's privateness including bodily privateness oregon different unlawful, including done Al-enabled systems and tools, attracts superior penal consequences nether aggregate statutes, including: sections 66E, 67, 67A and 67B of the IT Act; applicable provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023 ("BNS");• the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986;• the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012;• the Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956;• conception 85 of the IT Act: Offences by companies successful contravention of the IT Act and the rules thereunder including the IT Rules, 2021; and• different applicable laws for the clip being successful force.7. Further, attraction is specifically drawn to conception 33 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which imposes a mandatory statutory work to study definite offences to the due authorities. This includes offences involving organised transgression that includes cyber-crime, arsenic defined nether conception 111 of the BNS. Any nonaccomplishment to study specified offences, contempt cognition oregon tenable suspicion, whitethorn independently pull penal enactment nether the BNSS.8. Accordingly, you are advised to strictly desist from the hosting, displaying, uploading, publication, transmission, storage, sharing of immoderate contented connected your level that is obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, paedophilic, oregon different prohibited nether immoderate instrumentality for the clip being successful unit successful immoderate mode whatsoever. Failure to observe specified owed diligence obligations shall effect successful the nonaccomplishment of the exemption from liability nether conception 79 of the IT Act, and you shall besides beryllium liable for consequential enactment arsenic provided nether immoderate instrumentality including the IT Act and BNS.9. Therefore, successful workout of the powers of the Central Government nether the IT Act and the IT Rules, 2021, X is hereby directed to:(a) instantly undertake a broad technical, procedural and governance-level reappraisal of the Al-based exertion "Grok", including its prompt-processing, output-generation (responses generated utilizing Large Language Models (LLMs)), image-handling and information guardrails, truthful arsenic to guarantee that the exertion does not generate, beforehand oregon facilitate contented which contains nudity, sexualisation, sexually explicit oregon different unlawful contented successful immoderate signifier whatsoever;(b) forthwith enforce its idiosyncratic presumption of service, acceptable usage policies and Al usage restrictions, including beardown deterrent measures specified arsenic suspension, termination and different enforcement actions against violating users and accounts;(c) region oregon disable access, without delay, to each contented already generated oregon disseminated successful usurpation of applicable laws, successful strict compliance with the timelines prescribed nether the IT Rules, 2021, without vitiating the grounds successful immoderate manner;(d) taxable a elaborate Action Taken Report (ATR) to this Ministry, including covering the supra aspects, astatine the earliest and successful immoderate lawsuit not aboriginal than seventy-two (72) hours from the day of issuance of this letter, inter alia, covering:• circumstantial method and organisational measures adopted oregon projected successful narration to the Grok application;• the relation and oversight exercised by the Chief Compliance Officer;• actions taken against offending content, users and accounts; and mechanisms enactment successful spot to guarantee compliance with the mandatory reporting request nether conception 33 of the BNSS; and(e) guarantee ongoing, demonstrable and auditable compliance with each owed diligence-obligations nether the IT Act and the IT Rules, 2021, failing which due enactment whitethorn beryllium initiated, including the nonaccomplishment of the exemption from liability nether conception 79 of the IT Act, and consequential enactment arsenic provided nether immoderate instrumentality including the IT Act and the BNS.10. It is reiterated that non-compliance with the supra requirements shall beryllium viewed earnestly and whitethorn effect successful strict ineligible consequences against your platform, its liable officers and the users connected the level who interruption the law, without immoderate further notice, nether the IT Act, the IT Rules, the BNSS, the BNS and different applicable laws.11. This issues with the support of the Competent Authority successful the Ministry, without prejudice to immoderate different enactment that whitethorn beryllium taken by the Government oregon instrumentality enforcement agencies nether immoderate instrumentality for the clip being successful force.Yours faithfully,(Ajit Kumar)Joint Secretary, Cyber Laws, MeitY
