The Union government’s January 2 notice to X (formerly Twitter) regarding its AI chatbot Grok generating harmful content about women represents far more than routine regulatory action. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) initially gave X 72 hours, and then an extension of 48 hours to provide a detailed action-taken report and implement technical safeguards restricting Grok from producing sexually explicit material, warning that failure could jeopardise the platform’s “safe harbour” protections under Indian law. When examined against X’s documented history of contentious engagement with Indian authorities and the accelerating crisis of synthetic content, this directive reveals a critical inflection point in India’s approach to AI governance.
X’s relationship with Indian regulatory authorities has been marked by recurring conflict. In May 2021, Indian police visited Twitter’s Delhi offices after the company marked tweets by BJP spokesman Sambit Patra as “manipulated media”. During the 2021 farmers’ protests, the platform initially complied with government blocking orders, then reversed course — a pattern that would repeat itself. In 2023, former CEO Jack Dorsey accused the Indian government of threatening to shut down offices and requesting censorship of journalists.

Link: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/grok-x-safe-harbour-protection-india-elon-musk-10459774/