Geline Salac

Article (news)

Philippines' DICT bans Grok

David Dizon

ABS-CBN News

The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology has banned access to AI tool Grok due to complaints of child pornography.DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said Grok violated Republic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, which bans the production or manufacture of any form of child pornography.“Wala kaming magagawa kasi maraming na na-violate na batas. ‘Yung AI nagagamit nila for child pornography. Hindi na kami pwedeng magpatumpik-tumpik diyan. Dapat i-block na namin kaagad,” he said in a DZMM interview.He added the Philippines will restore access once Grok complies with standards set by government.“The National Privacy Commission is currently in touch with them. We will wait for their response,” he said.Grok is now inaccessible as of posting.Grok, an AI tool created by Elon Musk, has come under fire for allowing the <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/1/6/-remove-her-clothes-global-backlash-over-grok-sexualized-images-1108">creation of sexualized deepfakes</a>.Until last week, users could tag the bot in posts to request image generation and editing, receiving the image in a reply from Grok.Many took advantage of the service by sending Grok photos of women or tagging the bot in replies to women&#x27;s photo posts.They would ask it to &quot;put her in a bikini&quot; or &quot;take her clothes off&quot; -- receiving photorealistic altered images in response.Such AI-powered nonconsensual &quot;nudifying&quot; services had previously been available on niche websites, but Grok became the first to take it mainstream with social media integration and offer it for free.The Philippines became the third country to ban Grok, following Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would maintain pressure after the chatbot cranked out a flood of lewd photos of women and children.X announced Wednesday that it would &quot;geoblock the ability&quot; of all Grok and X users to create images of people in &quot;bikinis, underwear, and similar attire&quot; in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal. With Agence France-Presse

The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology has banned access to AI tool Grok due to complaints of child pornography.

The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology has banned access to AI tool Grok due to complaints of child pornography.