Philippines says plans to to ban Grok 'by tonight' over deepfakes

by AFP Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) Jan 15, 2026

The Philippines said Thursday it plans to block Elon Musk's Grok "by tonight", joining Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia in barring access to the chatbot that has drawn fire over AI-generated sexualised deepfakes.

The news came hours after social media platform X said it was taking measures to prevent its chatbot from undressing images of real people -- including children -- amid a growing global backlash and the launch of an investigation in the US state of California.

"We need to clean the internet now, because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI," telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda told a press briefing announcing the decision.

Renato Paraiso, acting executive director of the country's cybercrime centre, told AFP the block would take effect within the day.

"By tonight or within today, we are expecting (Grok) to be blocked in the entire Philippines," Paraiso said.

"We are expecting the telcos to immediately comply with the (National Telecommunications Commission) order, so of course we will monitor it."

He added that X's pledge to limit access would have no effect on the government's plans.

"We cannot make decisions based on announcements," Paraiso said, adding they would watch to see if the platform carries through with its promises.

Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with Malaysia following the next day.

X announces measures to prevent Grok from undressing images
San Francisco, United States (AFP) Jan 15, 2026 - Elon Musk's platform X on Wednesday announced measures to prevent its AI chatbot Grok from undressing images of real people, following global backlash over its generation of sexualized images of women and children.

X said it will "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in those jurisdictions where such actions are deemed illegal.

"We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis," X's safety team said in a statement.

"This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers."

The statement comes just hours after California's attorney general launched an investigation into Musk's xAI -- the developer of Grok -- over the generation of "non-consensual, sexually explicit material" in recent weeks.

International pressure had been building on xAI to rein in Grok after its so-called "Spicy Mode" feature allowed users to create sexualized deepfakes of women and children using simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."

Indonesia on Saturday became the first country to block access to Grok entirely, with neighboring Malaysia following on Sunday.

India said Sunday that X had removed thousands of posts and hundreds of user accounts in response to its complaints.

Britain's Ofcom media regulator said Monday it was opening a probe into whether X failed to comply with UK law over the sexual images.

And France's commissioner for children Sarah El Hairy said Tuesday she had referred Grok's generated images to French prosecutors, the Arcom media regulator and the European Union.