Under the law of Turkey — a country of 85 million people — such insults are punishable by up to four years in prison.
The country’s Criminal Court of Peace granted the prosecutor’s request to block access to Grok, and the telecom authority is enforcing that block on internet access providers, it added.
The news quickly went viral on Turkish X. Some users shared pictures of robots being arrested by Turkish police, while others portrayed Grok as part of the opposition to Erdoğan’s government.
According to Yaman Akdeniz, a human rights professor and digital rights activist, authorities had identified around 50 posts for removal, citing the “protection of public order.”
X’s legal representative in Turkey Gönenç Gürkaynak commented on the platform that he never imagined that one day Grok might need to be defended against direct criminal prosecution.
On Tuesday, Grok came under fire for producing antisemitic posts and praise for Adolf Hitler. In May it faced criticism for its responses relating to claims of “white genocide” in South Africa.