RS MP Priyanka Chaturvedi flags ‘gross misuse’ of AI on social media, writes to IT Minister Vaishnaw

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Thursday (January 1, 2025) wrote to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, raising concerns over the alleged misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on social media platforms to post objectionable images of women using fake accounts.

She said such practices amount to a serious breach of women’s privacy and urged the Centre to take urgent steps to safeguard their rights. “There have to be guardrails put in place by features like Grok so that they do not violate women’s dignity. Big tech firms need to take the onus,” Ms. Chaturvedi said.

In the letter, Ms. Chaturvedi brought to attention a “new trend that has emerged on social media”, especially on X, through the misuse of its AI Grok feature, where men “use fake accounts to post women’s photos and push prompts into Grok to minimise their clothing and sexualise them”.

“It is not just limited to sharing photos through fake accounts but are also targeting women who post their own photos. This is unacceptable and a gross misuse of an AI function,” she said.

She further added, “What is worse is that Grok is enabling this behaviour by adhering to such requests. This is a breach of women’s right to privacy as well as unauthorised use of their pictures, which is not just unethical but also criminal.”

Ms. Chaturvedi has further urged the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology to take decisive action against the social media platform X and to implement safeguards in AI-driven tools to ensure women’s safety online.

In a letter, Ms. Chaturvedi said India cannot remain a bystander while women’s dignity is violated publicly and digitally under the guise of creativity and innovation. She flagged growing concerns over similar unchecked patterns across major tech platforms and stressed that such practices amount to criminal behaviour.

“Our country cannot be a bystander to women’s dignity being violated publicly and digitally with zero consequences under the garb of creativity and innovation condone such prompts. We are seeing similar patterns appear even on other big tech platforms that are going absolutely unchecked. As a nation we must take this up on a priority to ensure women are not the victims of such openly criminal practices and further silence and push them out of these platforms,” the letter reads.

Emphasising the need for urgent intervention, she said the government must ensure women are not silenced or pushed out of digital spaces.

Ms. Chaturvedi added that while India welcomes artificial intelligence and its benefits, it will not tolerate the spread of demeaning content targeting women, and expressed hope that the Ministry would take up the issue with big tech companies.

She condemned the men who run these fake accounts. “I wish men indulging in such behaviour were educated better at their homes & schools so as to not become such sick perverts in their adulthood,” she said.

(With ANI inputs)