Elon Musk’s X to remove illegal content, permanently ban offending users
New Delhi (PTI): Microblogging site X will act against illegal content by removing it, permanently suspending accounts that uploaded the material and working with local governments as required, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform said on Sunday.
The statement from the Global Government Affairs account of X was issued hours after it said people using the platform's AI service, Grok, to create illegal content will face the same consequences as those uploading illegal content.
"Anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content," Musk said on X in response to a post on "inappropriate images".
Global government affairs at X reiterated Musk's stance on illegal content.
"We take action against illegal content on X, including Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), by removing it, permanently suspending accounts, and working with local governments and law enforcement as necessary.
"Anyone using or prompting Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content," Global Government Affairs on X said.
The Global Government Affairs handle also shared a link for X rules, which allows sharing of "consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behaviour, provided it's properly labelled and not prominently displayed".
The Indian government has found vulgar, obscene and other unlawful content being uploaded on X that are in violation of local laws.
The statement from Musk and Global Government Affairs follows the direction from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity), issued on January 2, to immediately remove all vulgar, obscene and unlawful content, especially generated by AI app Grok, or face action under the law.
Meity has directed X to take action against offending content, users and accounts.
The ministry asked the US-based social media firm to submit a detailed action taken report (ATR) within 72 hours from the date when the order was issued.
The government has received from time to time, including through public discourse and representations from various parliamentary stakeholders, that certain categories of content circulating on X may not be in compliance with applicable laws relating to decency and obscenity, the order said.
Earlier, Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi had written to the Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw seeking urgent intervention on increasing incidents of the AI app Grok being misused to create vulgar photos of women and post them on social media.
The order said that "Grok AI" service, developed by X, is being misused by users to create fake accounts to host, generate, publish or share obscene images or videos of women in a derogatory or vulgar manner to indecently denigrate them.
On December 29, Meity asked social media firms to immediately review their compliance framework and act against obscene and unlawful content on their platform, failing which they may face prosecution under the law of the land.
The advisory came after Meity noticed that social media platforms have not been strictly acting on obscene, vulgar, inappropriate, and unlawful content.
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No nation can progress unless small traders are protected: Arvind Kejriwal
Chandigarh (PTI): No nation can progress unless small shopkeepers and traders are protected and given ease of doing business, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.
Kejriwal made the remarks while addressing the maiden meeting of the Punjab State Traders Commission in Mohali, where he was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The former Delhi chief minister said that through the commission, local markets will be upgraded, and long-pending small issues of shopkeepers will be resolved.
He said the purpose of the commission is to make the tax system simpler, more transparent, and trader-friendly.
"Till now, in our country, traders and businessmen have been viewed with a very negative mindset. No matter which government or which party ruled, everyone treated traders as thieves," Kejriwal said.
"I pray that one day our government is formed at the Centre and we free you from GST. There is a kind of tax terrorism going on," he said.
Kejriwal termed the traders also a victim of politicians, who, he said, only remember them during elections and then, once in power, to extort money till the next election.
"I come from a trading family. I understand the pain and suffering of a trader. You may remember how, as children, we used to go to the village during summer holidays. My uncle there had a grocery shop at the bus stand. During summer vacations, many times I would manage the entire shop alone for days. I understand the pain of a shopkeeper," he said.
The AAP leader said the governments always talk about big investments everywhere. "But no one ever paid attention to the small shopkeeper running a grocery store, a clothing shop, a bread shop, a tile shop, or shops in small markets."
Attacking the rival parties in Punjab, he said that after their run was over, neither the Akali Dal nor the Congress would have dared to go among the public and seek honest feedback.
"After four years, they would face such abuse that I do not think the Congress government would have had the courage to pass around a microphone in a public gathering and say, speak whatever you want … If it had happened during the Akali Dal government, the microphone would not have returned," he said.
