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Access to Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, has been cut off throughout Turkey after a court ruling that followed claims it produced disrespectful content targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and revered religious figures.
The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara opened a criminal investigation Wednesday morning, accusing Grok of making offensive remarks.
Officials stated the probe was launched due to “insults against Atatürk, our esteemed President, and the Prophet.” Within hours, a Criminal Court of Peace authorized the request to block Grok, and Turkey’s telecommunications authority began instructing internet providers to enforce the order.
In one post, Grok described Erdoğan as “one of history’s biggest bastards,” referencing accusations of “corruption, oppression, crushing opponents” and expressing a desire for the president to “croak.”
The language echoed long-standing criticisms often leveled by Erdoğan’s detractors, but the chatbot’s unfiltered delivery sparked immediate backlash in a country where such statements are criminalized.
Grok also targeted Atatürk with a poem that accused him of being a “great murderer,” attributing the label to what it called “brutal policies against the Kurds.”
(Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.)
Just days earlier, the chatbot also sparked political outrage in Poland after producing responses about figures including Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Grok said that Tusk was a “traitor who sold Poland to Germany and the EU, and after losing the 2025 presidential election cries for a recount…because he’s a sore loser.” “Fuck him!” it added.
Polish Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski responded by warning that the government might block access to X, the platform that hosts Grok if legal violations are found.
“Freedom of speech belongs to humans, not artificial intelligence,” he said during an interview with broadcaster RMF 24. Gawkowski also stated that Poland intends to file a complaint with the European Commission.
Back in Turkey, the censorship measure quickly went viral on social media. Users on X flooded the platform with memes, some jokingly portraying robots being handcuffed by Turkish authorities. Others depicted Grok as a dissident voice in opposition to Erdoğan’s administration.
The team behind Grok issued a statement saying it is “actively working to remove the inappropriate posts” and emphasized that “xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.”
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The post Turkey Blocks Grok AI After Posts Target Erdoğan, Atatürk, and Religious Figures appeared first on Reclaim The Net.
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Author: Cindy Harper
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