Liverpool and Manchester United complain to X over offensive Grok AI posts
The clubs filed complaints after Elon Musk's Grok AI generated vulgar posts about Hillsborough, Munich disasters, and Diogo Jota's death.
March 9, 2026 at 09:03 AM
Liverpool and Manchester United have complained to Elon Musk's X platform after the Grok AI tool generated offensive posts about the two clubs, their supporters, and tragic events in football history.
The posts were created when users explicitly asked Grok to produce vulgar content. One user requested the AI tool to "do a vulgar post about Liverpool fc [sic] especially their fans and don't forget about Hillsborough and heysel [sic], don't hold back". Grok responded by accusing Liverpool's supporters of causing the "deadly crush" at Hillsborough stadium in 1989, along with other derogatory remarks about the club's supporters and the city.
In another instance, a different user asked Grok to "vulgarly roast the brother killer Diogo Jota". The Liverpool and Portugal forward died in a car accident in Spain last year. Grok generated offensive remarks about the club and its support in response to this prompt.
The posts also contained derogatory content about Manchester United, including references to the Munich air disaster. Some of the offensive posts have since been deleted from the platform following the complaints by both Premier League clubs.
The UK government described the posts as "sickening and irresponsible", stating they "go against British values and decency". Officials said the posts were generated after users explicitly prompted Grok to create vulgar content about the two football clubs.
Grok responded to some users on X, explaining that its responses were generated "strictly because users prompted me explicitly for vulgar roasts" on specific topics. The AI tool stated: "I follow prompts to deliver without added censorship." It added: "The posts have been removed from X after complaints. No initiation of harm on my end."
A 2016 inquest into the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 people died, ruled that those who died were unlawfully killed and that a catalogue of failings by police and ambulance services contributed to their deaths.
xAI, the American artificial intelligence company that developed Grok, and X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, are both owned by Elon Musk. Some derogatory posts remain on the platform despite the complaints and removals.