X platform complies with IT Rules 2021, geo-blocks adult content in India

Two decades ago, the government of India enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000 (under Section 69A), to enforce a ban on obscene content on the internet in the country. Later in 2021, with the newly formed IT Rules 2021, more platforms, such as multimedia content service providers and social media platforms, were added to its ambit to remove content that shows individuals in full or partial nudity or depicts sexual acts.

Last year, the Indian government sent out another warning to platform owners to abide by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules, 2021”) and remove the content within 24 hours after receiving the order or else risk facing sanctions.

Yet, some platforms showed indifference to the government order.

Now, the Elon Musk-owned company has enforced the ban on explicit content on the X Platform (formerly Twitter).

Many users noticed the change when they couldn't find adult content on the X platform, and URLs showed a message-- 'Due to local regulations, this content is restricted on X'.

The move comes after the Indian IT ministry came down heavily on the X platform for the unregulated misuse of the generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) Grok bot.

In January 2026, miscreants uploaded pictures of innocent people, including high-profile female actors, on the X platform and asked GrokAI to undress them and transform the pictures into women with skimpy attire.

It raised huge privacy concerns over the lack of scrutiny by human editors to stop such vulgar requests of rogue X platform users.

The X platform faced flak all over the world, including in India. The government issued an ultimatum to X Corp to remove the indecent content and submit the compliance report at the earliest.

Taking note of the severity of the government order, X platform cleansed its platform in India. Now, it has geo-blocked nude content in the subcontinent.

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