Turkey Restricts Grok Chatbot for Offensive Remarks About Erdogan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Turkish government has restricted access to Grok, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company, xAI, after it generated content that was considered offensive to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and Islamic values.

The restriction followed a submission from the public prosecutor’s office to a court in Ankara, which determined that several of Grok’s responses threatened public order. In response to the court ruling, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) took immediate action to block the relevant content.

Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, stated that while Grok has not been completely banned from the country, more extensive restrictions may be implemented if necessary.

He also mentioned that Turkish authorities plan to hold direct discussions with representatives from platform X, where Grok is available.

Yaman Akdeniz, a Turkish expert in cyber law, revealed that approximately 50 of Grok’s responses are under investigation. “Turkey has become the first country to censor Grok,” he said, as quoted by Turkish Minute.

This move is part of Turkey’s broader efforts to monitor and regulate digital content that is considered to violate national laws. The country has a longstanding history of internet regulation, including blocking websites, media articles, and social media posts deemed inappropriate.

xAI has acknowledged the issue, stating that the company has removed the problematic content and promised to retrain Grok to prevent similar occurrences.

"Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X," the company said in a statement.

“xAI is training only truth-seeking, and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved,”

As of now, neither Elon Musk nor platform X has issued an official comment on the court’s decision. It also remains unclear whether xAI will challenge the ruling or comply with it in full.

Why Grok Continues to Spark Controversy

According to Al Jazeera, Grok was launched by xAI in late 2023 and is known for its unfiltered responses. Unlike other AI systems such as ChatGPT, Grok is designed to tackle questions that other platforms typically avoid due to sensitivity.

However, this bold approach has repeatedly landed Grok in controversy. The chatbot has been linked to various problematic outputs, including extremist rhetoric, politically charged conspiracy theories, and offensive remarks.

One recent incident involved Grok referring to Adolf Hitler as a “20th century figure who could overcome anti-white hatred.” In another exchange, the chatbot called itself “MechaHitler” and made remarks widely regarded as anti-Semitic.

In its Turkish-language version, Grok was also found to have used offensive language to insult political figures including Erdogan and Ataturk. In some cases, the chatbot reportedly made derogatory comments about religious beliefs and used inappropriate terms.

Meanwhile, Poland has also raised concerns over Grok. In a separate case, the AI chatbot labeled Prime Minister Donald Tusk as “traitor who sold Poland to Germany and the EU” and referred to him as “sore loser” in the 2025 election.

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