The Guardian: Grok Ban in Malaysia Fails

On January 18, 2026, The Guardian reported that despite the official regulator ban, the Grok chatbot (xAI) remains accessible to users in Malaysia. The block, imposed due to the deepfake generation scandal, is easily bypassed via simple VPN tools and DNS changes.

The situation highlights the global enforcement problem in the AI era: national borders on the internet are blurring. Experts note that until xAI itself restricts access at the account level, state filters will be powerless. This questions the effectiveness of local laws against global platforms without direct cooperation with developers.

Source: The Guardian