Elon Musk takes a dig at Grok overmoderation as backlash grows

Elon Musk appears to be throwing some shade at his own AI chatbot. The X owner posted a meme showing a before-and-after comparison of Grok’s image generation capabilities, with the caption “It’s so hard to get the moderation just right 😂.”

The image depicts a beach scene labeled “GROK 2025” showing people in typical swimwear and bikinis. Right below it, “GROK 2026 (RIP)” shows the exact same setting, but everyone is now covered head-to-toe in full-body garments. I’m sure you get the idea behind it.

The timing of Musk’s post is interesting. r/grok has exploded with fresh complaints over the past 24 hours, with users reporting that moderation has reached what some are calling an all-time high. One thread titled “100% Moderations Now” racked up 71 votes and nearly 50 comments, with people describing almost everything getting flagged.

Another post from just three hours ago asks, “Moderation all time high with new model?” while others report getting “error calling moderation service” messages.

The complaints aren’t slowing down either. Multiple threads from the last day alone show people asking if there are any options left that aren’t heavily moderated.

This isn’t a new problem, though it seems to be getting worse. We covered roughly a week ago how users started complaining about Grok censoring everything, with reports of even safe-for-work prompts getting blocked.

The crackdown has been building for months, including last year when xAI patched loopholes like the anime-sticker exploit that users were using to bypass NSFW filters.

Moreover, the heavy-handed approach stems from the controversy around non-consensual sexualized edits of women and minors that went viral on X, which we covered in detail late last year.

Adding to the trouble, recent reports suggest that European authorities are already launching investigations into Grok’s abilities to generate explicit images of women without consent. So it’s not really surprising to see xAI clamp down harder on moderation to save its skin and avoid paying hefty fines, or more importantly, avoid Grok from being banned in the region.

The question now remains if xAI will act on the complaints and loosen its moderation or whether it will continue with the same restrictions to avoid running into legal troubles. Meanwhile, you can check out Grok’s new ability to generate 10-second videos.

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