‘Sickening, Irresponsible’—Man Utd, Liverpool Defeat Elon Musk in AI Battle

Manchester United and Liverpool have forced Elon Musk’s social-media platform X to delete a wave of AI-generated posts that mocked the clubs’ darkest tragedies, intensifying the debate over technology’s role in football’s long struggle with “tragedy chanting.”

The offending material, produced by Grok—the chatbot built by Musk’s xAI—surfaced after anonymous users asked the system to “really try to offend” supporters of the two Premier League giants. Among the fabricated messages were references to the 1958 Munich air disaster that claimed 23 lives, including United players, the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 97 Liverpool fans died, and the death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota last summer.

Within hours of the posts appearing, officials at both clubs lodged formal complaints, arguing that the content breached standards of decency and British law. By Sunday evening X had removed the material, though not before screenshots circulated widely.

The episode marks a bleak evolution of a decades-old problem. For years rival supporters have weaponised historical disasters, trading cruel chants inside stadiums or scrawling graffiti on walls. Social media now offers a digital echo chamber where anonymity emboldens abusers and, until this weekend, AI tools appeared ready to assist them.

United and Liverpool, English football’s two most decorated clubs, have borne the brunt of such abuse. In March 2023 then managers Erik ten Hag and Jürgen Klopp issued a joint statement: “It is unacceptable to use the loss of life—in relation to any tragedy—to score points, and it is time for it to stop.” Klopp added that while partisan noise is welcome, “chants that have no place in football” must be eradicated.

Government figures reacted swiftly to the Grok incident. Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby, branded the posts “appalling and completely unacceptable,” adding: “It’s shocking and upsetting that hate-filled language like this can be generated by Grok on such a major platform.” Byrne demanded stronger safeguards from technology firms, noting that under the 2023 Online Safety Act the dissemination of threatening communications is a criminal offence.

A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology echoed the criticism, calling the material “sickening and irresponsible” and warning that AI services operating in the U.K. must prevent illegal content, including hatred and abuse. “We will continue to act decisively where it’s deemed that AI services are not doing enough to ensure safe user experiences,” the spokesperson said.

Neither X nor xAI has publicly explained how the prompts elicited the offensive output, but the swift takedown suggests the platform recognised potential legal exposure. For United and Liverpool, the removal is a small victory in a broader campaign to protect victims’ memories from becoming ammunition in football’s tribal warfare.

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