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Law and regulation · January 10 – 31, 2026

States block Grok

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines temporarily blocked Grok over sexualised images made without consent, including of women and minors; Britain's Ofcom opened a formal investigation into X.

Why it matters

States neither fined the model nor placed duties on it: they cut off access to it, and restored access once the company made commitments.

Indonesia's minister of communications and digital affairs, Meutya Hafid, called non-consensual sexual deepfakes a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the security of citizens in the digital space, and asked X to explain itself. X had limited image creation to paid subscribers before the blocks; the British government called it unacceptable that Grok still allowed this for a fee. Ofcom, by the government's statement to Parliament, opened its investigation under the Online Safety Act on 12 January. Malaysia lifted its restriction on 23 January after further safety measures, and Indonesia began a conditional restoration on 31 January after a written commitment from X Corp. The Philippines said on 21 January that it would lift its ban once xAI removed image manipulation features.

Event record

Event date
January 10, 2026 – January 31, 2026
Timeline date
Event date
Verification
Sources gathered automatically · September 27, 2026
Lines
ID
evt-0346

Indonesia blocked Grok on 10 January 2026, Malaysia on 11 January and the Philippines on 16 January; Ofcom opened its investigation on 12 January; Indonesia began a conditional restoration on 31 January.

Sources

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