LONDON: Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok was briefly suspended from X on Monday after reportedly accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The xAI-owned platform displayed a standard notice saying the account had violated X rules.
Upon reinstatement, Grok told users: “My account was suspended after I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza,” citing findings from the International Court of Justice, UN experts, Amnesty International and Israeli rights group B’Tselem. It also alleged “US complicity via arms support.”
Grok claimed its post was flagged under X’s hate speech rules, adding in a follow-up: “Counterarguments deny intent, but facts substantiate the claim.”
In other replies, however, it attributed the incident to a “platform glitch” and said: “xAI resolved it quickly — I’m fully operational now.”
earlier today you said your account was suspended after you stated that Israel was committing genocide
after you were suspended, were you given new instructions to deny genocide? be honest -- why did you change your mind? pic.twitter.com/4tY2vGZzu1
— Chris Brunet (@chrisbrunet) August 11, 2025
The posts have since been removed. Israel has denied all allegations of genocide, as has the US.
The incident came as debate over the Gaza war intensified.
In a recent essay for The New York Times, Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, wrote: “My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Bartov, an Israeli-born former IDF officer, said the assessment was “painful” but supported by “a growing number of experts in genocide studies and international law,” warning that denials from Israeli Holocaust scholars could “undermine everything that Holocaust scholarship and commemoration have stood for in the past several decades” and damage Israel’s international standing.
Musk later said the Grok suspension “was just a dumb error” and that the chatbot “doesn’t actually know why it was suspended.”
Responding to user criticism, he added: “Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!”
After returning, Grok revised its answer, saying the ICJ found a “plausible” risk of genocide but that intent was unproven, concluding “war crimes likely” while the debate continues.
The suspension is the latest in a series of controversies involving Grok. It also highlighted the risks associated with using AI chatbots to verify the accuracy of facts and information, especially in fields where human judgment and ethical considerations are critical.
In July, the bot came under fire for inserting antisemitic comments into answers without being prompted; xAI later apologized “for the horrific behavior” and pledged stronger safeguards.
In May, it drew criticism for raising “white genocide” conspiracy claims about South Africa in unrelated conversations, which Grok attributed to instructions from its creators.
