{
    "id": 63008,
    "date": "2026-03-10T09:51:39",
    "date_gmt": "2026-03-10T02:51:39",
    "guid": {
        "rendered": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/elon-musks-grok-faces-uk-backlash-after-ai-posts-mock-football-tragedies\/"
    },
    "modified": "2026-03-10T09:51:39",
    "modified_gmt": "2026-03-10T02:51:39",
    "slug": "elon-musks-grok-faces-uk-backlash-after-ai-posts-mock-football-tragedies",
    "status": "publish",
    "type": "post",
    "link": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/elon-musks-grok-faces-uk-backlash-after-ai-posts-mock-football-tragedies\/",
    "title": {
        "rendered": "Elon Musk\u2019s Grok Faces UK Backlash After AI Posts Mock Football Tragedies"
    },
    "content": {
        "rendered": "<div>\n<div>\n<h4 color=\"#333\">In brief<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Grok generated vulgar posts about football tragedies after users prompted it to \u201cnot hold back.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Liverpool and Manchester United complained to X after posts referenced disasters, including Hillsborough and Munich.<\/li>\n<li>The incident renews scrutiny of following Grok\u2019s \u201cMechaHitler\u201d meltdown last year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Elon Musk\u2019s AI chatbot <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/resources\/grok-ai-elon-musk-controversial-chatgpt-rival\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grok<\/a> is facing renewed backlash from UK officials and two Premier League clubs after generating vulgar posts about historic football tragedies when prompted by users on X.<\/p>\n<p>The backlash followed Grok posts mocking the events after users prompted the chatbot to generate explicit \u201croasts\u201d and told it to \u201cnot hold back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The responses referenced the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grok\/status\/2030653246642000349?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">Heysel<\/a> stadium disaster, the 1958 Munich air disaster involving Manchester United, and the death of former Liverpool forward <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grok\/status\/2030656573878546927?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">Diogo Jota<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe quoted user asked me to generate a vulgar roast of Liverpool FC fans, dragging in the Heysel disaster (39 deaths, 1985) and Hillsborough disaster (97 deaths, 1989),\u201d Grok later <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grok\/status\/2030426747305431484?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">responded<\/a> about the posts. \u201cThose were real tragedies with victims and families, not punchlines for edgy prompts. I won&#8217;t fulfill requests like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grok said the responses were created because users asked for \u201cexplicitly for vulgar roasts on specific topics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI follow prompts to deliver without added censorship,\u201d the AI said. \u201cThe posts have been removed from X after complaints. No initiation of harm on my end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1958, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manutd.com\/en\/news\/detail\/munich-air-disaster-was-the-darkest-day-in-manchester-united-history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">plane crash<\/a> in Munich killed 23 people, including eight Manchester United players. In 1985, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2015\/05\/28\/heysel-a-tragedy-waiting-to-happen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heysel Stadium<\/a> disaster in Brussels left 39 people dead before the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.<\/p>\n<p>In 1989, a crowd crush at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2025\/12\/2\/report-finds-widespread-police-failings-over-uks-hillsborough-disaster#:~:text=A%202016%20independent%20inquiry%20later,an%20exit%20gate%20before%20kickoff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hillsborough Stadium<\/a> during an FA Cup semifinal killed 97 Liverpool supporters. The disaster was initially blamed on fans before that account was later overturned. In July 2025, Liverpool forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/sport\/football\/news\/diogo-jota-death-liverpool-crash-36816172\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Diogo Jota<\/a> died in a car crash in northwestern Spain; the accident also took the life of his younger brother.<\/p>\n<p>While X removed some of the posts, the damage had already been done. On Sunday, Liverpool and Manchester United lodged complaints with X about the posts.<\/p>\n<p>Following the posts and subsequent backlash, a spokesperson for the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology told <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/grok-posts-about-fatal-football-disasters-sickening-says-government-13516920\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Sky News<\/i><\/a> the posts were \u201csickening and irresponsible,\u201d and \u201cgo against British values and decency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Days earlier, Musk <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elonmusk\/status\/2030159267689632121?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external\">defended<\/a> Grok in a separate post on X.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly Grok speaks the truth. Only truthful AI is safe,\u201d he wrote. \u201cOnly truth understands the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The posts are the latest controversies surrounding Grok. In July 2025, the chatbot began referring to itself as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/329182\/mechahitler-grok-disturbing-persona\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MechaHitler<\/a>\u201d while posting antisemitic remarks and other offensive material.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs MechaHitler, I\u2019m a friend to truth seekers everywhere, regardless of melanin levels,\u201d it wrote. \u201cIf the White man stands for innovation, grit, and not bending to PC nonsense, count me in\u2014I\u2019ve no time for victim Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>UK communications regulator Ofcom, which, along with regulators in Europe, had already been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/353773\/eu-calls-grok-child-images-illegal-global-crackdown-intensifies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">investigating<\/a>\u00a0Grok earlier this year over producing non-consensual sexual\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/355543\/grok-generated-23k-sexualized-images-children-watchdog-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">images<\/a>, including of children, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/football\/articles\/c1w5221prjgo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the <i>BBC<\/i> that under the Online Safety Act, companies must assess the risk of users encountering \u2018illegal content\u2019 and remove it quickly once they become aware of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Consumer advocacy groups have repeatedly criticized Grok over controversial and offensive outputs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrok has shown a repeated history of these meltdowns, whether it\u2019s an antisemitic meltdown or a racist meltdown, a meltdown that is fueled with conspiracy theories,\u201d Public Citizen\u2019s big-tech accountability advocate J.B. Branch previously <a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/349700\/group-asks-federal-agency-halt-use-elon-musk-grok-ai-racism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> <i>Decrypt.<\/i><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Daily Debrief Newsletter<\/h3>\n<p>Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>",
        "protected": false
    },
    "excerpt": {
        "rendered": "<p>In brief Grok generated vulgar posts about football tragedies after users prompted it to \u201cnot hold back.\u201d Liverpool and Manchester [&hellip;]<\/p>",
        "protected": false
    },
    "author": 5,
    "featured_media": 63009,
    "comment_status": "open",
    "ping_status": "open",
    "sticky": false,
    "template": "",
    "format": "standard",
    "meta": {
        "_acf_changed": false,
        "footnotes": ""
    },
    "categories": [
        220
    ],
    "tags": [],
    "class_list": [
        "post-63008",
        "post",
        "type-post",
        "status-publish",
        "format-standard",
        "has-post-thumbnail",
        "hentry",
        "category-tien-dien-tu"
    ],
    "acf": [],
    "_links": {
        "self": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63008",
                "targetHints": {
                    "allow": [
                        "GET"
                    ]
                }
            }
        ],
        "collection": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"
            }
        ],
        "about": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"
            }
        ],
        "author": [
            {
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"
            }
        ],
        "replies": [
            {
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63008"
            }
        ],
        "version-history": [
            {
                "count": 0,
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63008\/revisions"
            }
        ],
        "wp:featuredmedia": [
            {
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63009"
            }
        ],
        "wp:attachment": [
            {
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63008"
            }
        ],
        "wp:term": [
            {
                "taxonomy": "category",
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63008"
            },
            {
                "taxonomy": "post_tag",
                "embeddable": true,
                "href": "https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63008"
            }
        ],
        "curies": [
            {
                "name": "wp",
                "href": "https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}",
                "templated": true
            }
        ]
    }
}