Turkey blocks Grok AI bot for allegedly insulting President Erdogan
9 July 15:36
Turkey has restricted access to Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI company, after the bot began generating content that, according to Turkish authorities, offends President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This was reported byReuters, citing local media, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
It is reported that Grok allegedly created offensive responses in Turkish to inquiries about the president. In this regard, the Ankara Chief Prosecutor ‘s Office initiated an official investigation.
on July 9, access to Grok was blocked by a court decision enforced by the Turkish Information and Communication Technology Authority (BTK). The decision refers to a violation of the law criminalizing insulting the head of state, which is punishable by up to four years in prison.
Company X and Elon Musk have not yet commented on the situation.
The publication notes that this is the first case of banning an AI bot in Turkey. The issues of artificial intelligence bias, hate speech, and accuracy of responses have repeatedly sparked discussions since ChatGPT was launched in 2022. Grok, for instance, was previously at the center of a scandal over content accusing it of “positively mentioning Adolf Hitler.”
This is not the first example of online services being blocked in Turkey: in August 2024, access to Instagram was restricted without explanation, and recently, the mayors of three opposition cities in the south were detained.
Grok AI bot is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI, a company founded by Elon Musk in 2023. Grok is a direct competitor to systems such as ChatGPT by OpenAI, Gemini by Google, and Claude by Anthropic. Its main features:
What is known about Grok:
Technology and integration
- Grok is based on the Large Language Model (LLM) developed by xAI.
- It is integrated with the X social network (formerly Twitter), which is also owned by Musk.
- It has access to the live Twitter/X feed, so it often provides more up-to-date information than other bots that work with a limited set of data or knowledge up to a certain date.
The purpose of creation
- Musk stated that Grok was meant to be a less censored, “frank” alternative to competitors.
- His bot “likes to joke” and has a sarcastic style – this is one of the stated features.
Functions
- Answers user questions.
- It can write texts, code, analyze data, and generate ideas.
- Thanks to integration with X, it can comment or summarize trends in real time.
Scandals and criticism
- In 2023-2024, Grok was repeatedly accused of misinformation, incorrect answers, and political bias.
- In 2025, he became involved in a scandal in Turkey, where he was blocked for allegedly offensive responses to President Erdogan.
- Previously, he was criticized for incorrect references to historical figures, including Adolf Hitler, which were considered “unacceptable.”
Access
- Grok is only available to premium subscribers on the X platform, including Premium.
- The advantage is access to AI features directly in the Twitter/X app.
