In the notice, MeitY said it has observed that Grok is being misused to generate and circulate obscene, sexually explicit and derogatory content, particularly targeting women and children. The ministry described the misuse as a grave violation of dignity, privacy and digital safety, and warned the platform of strict action if immediate corrective steps are not taken. The Centre has directed X to promptly remove and disable "obscene, nude, indecent and sexually explicit content" created through the misuse of AI-based tools like Grok, citing provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT Rules, 2021.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Compliance Officer of the Elon Musk-owned platform, MeitY ordered an immediate and comprehensive review of Grok and the removal or disabling of access to all unlawful content.

"It has especially been observed that the service namely 'Grok AI' developed by you and integrated and made available on the X platform is being misused by users to create fake accounts to host, generate, publish or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory or vulgar manner in order to indecently denigrate them," the ministry said in its letter.

"Such conduct reflects a serious failure of platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms, and amounts to gross misuse of artificial intelligence technologies in violation of applicable laws," it added.

The government has directed X to urgently review Grok's technical design and governance framework, remove all unlawful content, initiate action against offending users and submit an Action Taken Report within 72 hours. MeitY cautioned that continued non-compliance could lead to the withdrawal of safe harbour protections under the IT Act and invite action under multiple cyber, criminal and child protection laws.