Grok has faced a global backlash after it emerged that its image creation feature allowed users to sexualise pictures of women and children using simple text prompts.

Indonesia is the first country to deny all access to the tool, which has been restricted to paying subscribers elsewhere following the backlash.

"In order to protect women, children, and the public from the risks of fake pornographic content generated using the artificial intelligence technology, the government... has temporarily blocked access to the Grok application," Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement.

"The government views non-consensual deepfake practices as a serious violation of human rights, dignity, and the security of citizens in the digital space."

The ministry has also summoned representatives from social media platform X to seek clarification on the issue.

According to AFP journalists in Jakarta, the Grok X account was still active and replying to queries, including in Bahasa Indonesia, on Saturday evening.

Musk-owned startup xAI, which developed Grok, was not immediately available for comment in person.

European officials and tech campaigners slammed the move to limit Grok's features to paying subscribers, saying it failed to address concerns about sexually explicit deepfake content.

Musk said last week in response to a post about the explicit images that anyone using Grok to "make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content".