Malaysia considers legal action against X over user safety concerns

Malaysia is considering legal action against US social media platform X for failing to ensure user safety, local media reported on Tuesday.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is "weighing taking X to court," citing concerns over harmful content circulating on the platform, according to Free Malaysia Today.

"They are weighing taking X to court," Fahmi said.

His remarks came after Malaysia blocked the Grok chatbot over its alleged misuse to generate manipulated images.

Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, citing concerns that it was being used to create manipulated, sexually explicit and non-consensual images.

Launched in 2023, Grok is available through X and allows users to ask questions and generate content. An image-generation feature added last year enabled the creation of sexually explicit imagery.

On Monday, the UK's online safety regulator Ofcom also opened a formal investigation into X over concerns that the chatbot is being used to generate sexualized images, adding to growing international scrutiny of the platform.