Turkey prosecutors ban Grok access after insults against government

A Turkish court has ordered a nationwide block on access to Elon Musk’s X platform on Wednesday, after its artificial intelligence chatbot Grok published content that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prophet Muhammad, and Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, perceived as offensive.

An investigation started by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office claimed Grok generated responses that insulted the country’s top officials. The AI assistant, developed by Musk’s xAI and integrated into the X platform, was accused of disseminating vulgar and inappropriate language in response to Turkish-language prompts.

Turkey prosecutors ban Grok access after insults against government

According to a statement released Wednesday by the prosecutors’ office, the investigation was launched after Grok’s posts insulted President Erdogan, his mother, the Prophet Muhammad, and Atatürk. 

The office then filed for an access ban with a criminal court, which approved the request. The order was forwarded to Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) to enforce the block through local internet providers.

Though the BTK is expected to implement the ban imminently, Grok was still accessible in Turkey at the time of this publication. 

It is the first time an AI program is being treated as a party in a criminal investigation. Gonenc Gurkaynak, one of X’s lawyers in Turkey, was astonished at the prosecution’s case.

“I never imagined that one day Grok might face direct criminal prosecution and have to defend itself,” he wrote on his official X account.

The AI chatbot’s prompt and response function was suspended on Tuesday for producing “problematic” posts of antisemitic tropes, and even praising Adolf Hitler. 

Just weeks ago, Musk admitted that there were flaws in Grok’s training data and promised improvements, noting that the model had been exposed to “far too much garbage” during development.

In response to the Turkish government’s complaints, X promised to remove the offensive content and said new safeguards are being implemented to prevent hate speech from being published by the AI.

“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the statement read. “Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.”

Turkish alleged censorship of political opponents

The latest access ban on X adds to the list of online platforms restricted under Erdogan’s government. Authorities have previously blocked access to Wikipedia, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X itself, invoking legal parameters related to national security, public order, and the protection of personal rights.

According to Freedom House, a platform that gauges the use of social platforms politically, Turkey is classified as “not free” in its Internet Freedom Status rankings.

In May, X blocked access to the account of Istanbul’s jailed mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, following a court order. Imamoglu was nominated as the Republican People’s Party (CHP) presidential candidate while in custody, arguably the biggest opposition figure against Erdogan’s 22-year rule.

According to Engelli Web, a Turkish watchdog that tracks internet censorship, the restriction on Imamoglu’s account was carried out in compliance with a legal request from Turkish authorities. They cited “national security and public order” as the reasons for the block.

X confirmed that it complied with the court’s ruling to avoid repercussions, such as a complete throttling of the platform in Turkey. However, the company reiterated that it was not in support of the decision and will move to court to challenge it.

“X has been and will continue to object to removal orders, including government requests in courts to protect users when those requests do not align with principles of free expression, due process, or other local laws,” the company stated through its Global Government Affairs account.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More