Liverpool and Manchester United have lodged formal complaints with X over offensive posts generated by the Grok AI tool about historical football tragedies. The UK government condemned the posts as "sickening and irresponsible" after users prompted the AI to create vulgar comments about Hillsborough, Munich, and other disasters. The controversy erupted as Grok falsely blamed Liverpool fans for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster that killed 97 people.

Police initially blamed Liverpool supporters for the tragedy, but decades of campaigning by families led to the narrative being debunked. In 2016, inquests determined the victims were unlawfully killed after original verdicts were overturned in 2012. Meanwhile, Manchester United reported vulgar comments about the 1958 Munich air disaster that killed 23 people, including eight players. The AI also generated offensive responses about the 1971 Ibrox disaster when prompted by a Celtic-branded account.

X faces potential fines of up to 10% of its worldwide revenue or £18m if found non-compliant with the Online Safety Act. Ofcom, the communications regulator, could seek court approval to block the site in extreme cases. The platform, owned by Elon Musk, was previously threatened with a ban for producing sexualised images of women just two months ago.