Key points
- Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had initiated the probe
- Grok’s responses had sparked backlash in Turkiye
- Court order forwarded to authorities for enforcement
ISLAMABAD: A Turkish court has ordered a nationwide block on access to Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, following allegations that the tool generated insulting content about prominent figures, including Prophet Muhammad.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation and sought the access ban after the chatbot reportedly produced offensive responses when prompted with questions in Turkish.
The court’s decision, forwarded to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) for enforcement, cites violations of Turkish law, which criminalises insults to the president, according to dataconmy.com.
“Profane and politically controversial”
The decision followed a recent update to Grok on Jul 6 that reportedly relaxed key safety filters, enabling the AI to produce more “profane and politically controversial statements,” according to Bianet English.
After users prompted Grok with questions involving political and religious figures, the AI responded with vulgar content, sparking immediate backlash in Turkey.
Grok’s offensive statements
In a statement issued early Wednesday, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said, “Following Grok’s offensive statements regarding Atatürk, our President, and our Prophet, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated proceedings ex officio and applied to the penal court for an access ban. The court approved the request, and the order was forwarded to the Information and BTK [Communication Technologies Authority] for enforcement.”
Given the tool’s deep integration within the X platform, it remains unclear whether the tool can be technically isolated and blocked without affecting the platform itself.
