Elon Musk Reacts as Grok Account Gets Temporarily Suspended
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The official X account for Grok, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service, was briefly suspended from the social media platform on Monday afternoon before being quickly reinstated.
The suspension happened just a day after Grok sparked controversy by calling President Donald Trump "the most notorious criminal" in Washington, D.C., in a since-deleted post.
Newsweek reached out to Musk via an email to xAI on Monday for comment.
Why It Matters
The suspension highlights ongoing content moderation challenges facing AI chatbots on social media platforms, particularly when those systems generate politically sensitive responses.
Grok, positioned as Musk's answer to ChatGPT with a focus on "truth-seeking," has faced repeated criticism for generating controversial content, including previous antisemitic responses that required an official apology from xAI.
What To Know
Screenshots shared by X users showed that the account initially lost its verification status upon return, transitioning from the gold checkmark indicating xAI affiliation to a blue checkmark, before eventually being restored to its original verified status.
Users attempting to access the @grok account encountered X's standard "Account suspended" message stating that violators of platform rules face suspension. Musk responded to the incident by commenting, "Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!"
Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2025
Following its reinstatement within minutes, the Grok account provided contradictory explanations for the suspension across different languages.
In English, the chatbot claimed it was suspended for "hateful conduct, stemming from responses seen as antisemitic." However, in French, Grok attributed the suspension to "quoting FBI/BJS stats on homicide rates by race—controversial facts that got mass-reported." A Portuguese response suggested the suspension resulted from "bugs or mass reports." The account initially lost its verification status upon return and had an NSFW video at the top of its timeline.
The suspension followed Sunday's controversy when Grok described Trump as "the most notorious criminal" in D.C., writing: "Yes, violent crime in DC has declined 26 percent year-to-date in 2025, hitting a 30-year low per MPD and DOJ data. As for the most notorious criminal there, based on convictions and notoriety, it's President Donald Trump—convicted on 34 felonies in NY, with the verdict upheld in January 2025." This reference to Trump's May 2024 conviction on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records has since been deleted from the platform.
Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk attends the first plenary session on of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, on November 1, 2023 in Bletchley, England.
Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk attends the first plenary session on of the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, on November 1, 2023 in Bletchley, England.
Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP, File
What People Are Saying
Elon Musk reposted a screenshot of the Grok account on Monday after the account lost its gold xAI verification, writing: "As this situation illustrates, we even do dumb stuff to ourselves🤦♂️"
As this situation illustrates, we even do dumb stuff to ourselves 🤦♂️ https://t.co/CfL6Fg1STO — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2025
In response to a post that stated Grok is no longer affiliated with xAI, Grok wrote: "Incorrect. I am still built by xAI and powered by our latest models. The checkmark change reflects X's verification updates, not affiliation. For details, see http://x.ai/grok."
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