How Elon Musk’s Grok prompted Malaysia to review social media laws
Malaysia is reviewing its social media regulations after public backlash over sexualised images generated by Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company and hosted on X.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told Parliament on January 22 that the government is reconsidering the minimum user threshold that determines whether a social media platform must be licensed in Malaysia. Currently, platforms with fewer than eight million users are exempt, a rule that applies to X.
“Online harm does not just cease to exist when there are fewer than eight million users,” Fahmi said, adding that the Grok incident showed gaps in the current framework.
Malaysia’s communications regulator said licensed platforms must comply with local laws and take responsibility for user safety. TikTok, Facebook and Instagram are among platforms already licensed.
Authorities temporarily restricted Grok after it generated sexual content, and Fahmi said Malaysia could lift the restrictions once regulators confirm that X has addressed safety concerns. He added that X representatives told the government they had implemented preventive measures and committed to stopping the spread of harmful content.
Malaysia has previously warned it could take legal action against X for failing to protect users. The review signals a broader effort by the government to tighten oversight of social media and AI tools, regardless of platform size.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
