Govt May Revoke X’s Safe Harbour Status Over Grok AI Obscene Content Violations

According to The Economic Times, the Centre has cautioned social media platform X about AI-generated pornographic material, threatening to revoke its "safe harbour" status under Indian law if it disregards takedown orders. Notably, X previously lost his legal immunity due to his failure to follow Indian regulations. Online platforms are shielded from liability for user-generated content under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, provided they abide by government regulations and promptly comply with takedown orders. X is subject to more stringent regulatory and compliance standards since it is a large social media intermediary (SSMI).

Why MeitY is Taking Stringent Step Against X?

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) formally notified X on January 2 for allegedly using their AI chatbot Grok to create and distribute pornographic photographs and videos of women. The notification required the platform to take action against violating accounts, remove offensive information, and provide an action-taken and compliance report within 72 hours.

Additionally, it cautioned that the loss of safe harbour status can result from an inability to demonstrate auditable compliance. In accordance with current central regulations, the government anticipates that the microblogging site will follow its instructions. However, according to many media sources, the Elon Musk-owned company had not yet submitted its action taken report as of 4 December's afternoon.

Not Adhering to Law a Usual Call for X

Twitter was accused of violating the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, in a May 2021 high court hearing. These required major social media platforms or intermediaries (SSMIs) with 5 million or more Indian users to designate key individuals, such as the CCO, Nodal Contact Person, and Resident Grievance Officer (RGO), who must be Indian citizens. Twitter complied after the court stated that the centre was "free to take action" if the business disobeyed.

The platform lost safe harbour immunity for an estimated three months until August, according to the centre, even though the roles were later filled. But according to MeitY's letter to X's CCO in the recent case, legislative exclusions under Section 79 are "conditional upon strict observance of due diligence obligations." In accordance with the IT Act of 2000 and the IT regulations of 2021, it had identified significant violations and instructed Grok to undergo a thorough evaluation and provide a compliance report within the following three days. It's interesting to note that MeitY has once again asked X in their most recent letter what the CCO's responsibilities are.