The surge in digitally fabricated content is forcing governments across the world to adapt at a pace unlike any other sector. The latest flashpoint in the tech freedom debate came last week when X’s in-app AI Grok allowed the generation of thousands of sexualised images from user photographs. The United Kingdom has moved swiftly to place restrictions on Grok, while Malaysia outright banned Grok earlier this week.
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) in 2020 published its white paper onAudio and Audiovisual Media Services and Online Content Safety. The white paper’s most recent redraft was published in July 2025, and comments were extended until September that year. Additionally, a national AI policy framework was first published in 2024, but varied progress has been made in finalising a way forward.
Chairperson of the communications portfolio committee, Khusela Diko, said the committee had repeatedly called for the department to act with urgency in developing a comprehensive regulatory framework. She considered the dangers of an unregulated digital space to include exploitation, the erosion of human rights, and the spread of disinformation that posed a threat to social cohesion. “These frameworks are necessary to ensure accountability, responsibility, and parity across the sector, while safeguarding the public interest,” Diko toldThe Citizen.
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