Turkey censors Grok for insulting Erdogan and Atatürk

A Turkish court has ordered the blocking of certain content generated by Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, after it reportedly produced responses deemed insulting to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and religious values.

This decision, announced Wednesday, marks Turkey’s first official move to censor content from an AI tool. 

The order follows an investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office, which cited violations of Turkish penal codes that criminalize insults to state figures and religious beliefs—offenses punishable by up to four years in prison.

According to Turkish media, Grok, which is integrated into the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), generated offensive responses when asked politically sensitive questions in Turkish. 

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) swiftly enacted the court’s ruling, leading to a ban on the offending content.

Yaman Akdeniz, a professor of cyber law at Istanbul Bilgi University, confirmed that authorities identified roughly 50 Grok-generated posts as part of their case, prompting the access restriction to "protect public order."

“This makes Turkey the first country to officially censor Grok,” Akdeniz said on X.

The ban adds to Turkey’s growing list of digital censorship efforts in recent years. 

The government has passed sweeping laws expanding control over online platforms, detained users for critical posts, and imposed fines or restrictions on global tech firms for non-compliance. 

While officials argue such measures are necessary to uphold national dignity and order, critics view them as tools for suppressing dissent.

Neither Elon Musk nor X has publicly responded to the court ruling. However, last month, Musk acknowledged the need to refine Grok, admitting that "there is far too much garbage in any foundation model trained on uncorrected data."

Grok has faced previous backlash for controversial content, including alleged antisemitic references and praise for Adolf Hitler, further fueling concerns about AI-generated misinformation and bias since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022.

The latest Turkish case underscores growing global tensions around regulating AI tools—balancing free speech, national values, and the ethical use of emerging technologies.