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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

If you're still on X are you ok with what Grok's been doing?

401 replies

user4532789 · 08/01/2026 17:15

Young girls, un-consenting women and now this

@eliothiggins.bsky.social‬
Just seen Grok putting the body of the victim of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis into a bikini. Digital corpse desecration now available to the public.
13:30 · 8 Jan 2026

Eliot Higgins (@eliothiggins.bsky.social)

Founder and creative director of Bellingcat and director of Bellingcat Productions BV. Author of We Are Bellingcat.

https://bsky.app/profile/eliothiggins.bsky.social

OP posts:
Thread gallery
12
Wolmando · 08/01/2026 18:26

I'm on x in case I need to moan at British Gas or BT, it's either that or use Facebook which I wouldn't entertain. I have only ever tweeted to businesses on there.

Wolmando · 08/01/2026 18:28

I hadn't heard of Grok before it was on the news though I was on x the other day as there was a burst water main locally

Radiatorvalves · 08/01/2026 18:29

I came off Twitter about 2 years ago. Now on Blue Sky which is nicer but you don’t get as much relevant info. I wish more big names would move away from X to an alternative platform. And I wish Uk gov would (given the Grok thing) stop having official accounts on X. Do we not have any red lines these days?

tigger1001 · 08/01/2026 18:30

I'm still on x. I never actually go on it and haven't for years, but it's really useful for local bridge closures as I still get the alerts.

Octonaut4Life · 08/01/2026 18:31

I'm surprised so many people are still using Twitter. I deleted my account when Musk did his salute. Now on Threads which is fine.

Brownbananaspot · 08/01/2026 18:31

I use X solely to follow match commentary for my lower league football club, I can't get it anywhere else. If I could. I wouldn't be using X

My DC's primary school use X as well as the sole platform to share things, it was why I originally signed up as it was the only way they shared information like snow closures. Her secondary school doesn't use it thankfully.

Wolmando · 08/01/2026 18:36

A lot of people use it because it's so hard to contact businesses nowadays by phone or having to use a useless chatbot, that was why I originally signed up with it. It's useful if websites go down, like Tesco, you can see that it's not just you.

Wolmando · 08/01/2026 18:43

Is this an advert for another platform

BoredZelda · 08/01/2026 19:15

I despair with the “it’s all the same” narrative that shows a real lack of critical thinking.

Is AI generally problematic? Yes, it has the potential to be used in a way that causes issues.

Is Grok more problematic than ChatGPT? Well, Grok allows users to take women and children’s pictures from the internet, and superimpose them on to sexually explicit images. Twitter then also allows these to be uploaded to their feed. ChatGPT can lead to false information being given as an answer to a question and is potentially leading to some careers going out of fashion. If you believe these two things are equal in terms of the damage they can do, you might want to re-assess what you consider to be a problem.

With social media, to suggest Bluesky and Twitter are one and the same, that is frankly laughable. Of course both are at risk from users doing bad things, but what matters more is how the software is designed to deal with that. Twitter leaves it alone. The first thing Musk did was remove all the checks and balances, the department which had previously been in place to tackle abuse has been gutted, algorithms were tweaked to severely reduce moderation, and there is little to no oversight of what is posted.

How the algorithms deliver content to you have also been skewed to ensure right wing voices are amplified. When you compare your feed from pre-Elon to post Elon it is like chalk and cheese. My follow list was largely centrist (by UK standards) I was rarely served up content from those either on or flirting with far right wing views. At first it was fine but in the months following Musk’s take over, I was seeing posts which were had some pretty extreme views. Many were overtly racist / anti-Semitic / homophobic. Things which even locked plausible deniability. Twitter told me I was seeing this post from person A (who I didn’t follow) because they were followed by Person B (who I did follow). Because it was so unbelievable that person B (mostly someone I would know) I would go and check. Unsurprisingly, Person B did not follow Person A. The software was designed to fill my feed with content which was extreme. Presumably to goad me into responding and drive traffic, or maybe to see if they could change my view. Over time, 90% of my feed was of content I would rarely want to engage with and even when responding to the kind of posts which previously would have great debates on them, the responses were angry, toxic, worthless. Every so often I click on a Twitter link for something specific and in my notifications there will again be a plethora of “for you” posts which are largely the same far right type posts. There is no way any algorithm would serve me this content based on my use of the site, there is a deliberate attempt to change the entire narrative on there. Bluesky / Threads does not do this. What I see there is way more balanced. I tend not to use any of these types of sites nowadays, (I prefer to watch dogs cronching lettuces on Insta) but if I am in the mood to dip in to any of them, it absolutely will not be Twitter.

Again, if you can’t see why amplifying right wing propaganda on one of the largest social media platforms is a problem, you need to do a bit more research.

tvon · 08/01/2026 19:29

If I left a platform because of gross, insulting, bad taste or demeaning stuff, I’d basically not be on anything. X is just like any other platform. If you see revolting stuff, you report it and move on to something else.

Brefugee · 08/01/2026 19:35

not ok with men using AI to fake naked pictures etc etc

I am still on X because i am complaining about this issue on that platform

And following sex realist accounts instead of 2nd hand reports of what the evil terfs are up to

And RTing everything the Auschwitz Memorial post

ETA: i get exposed to precisely that which i want to see becuse i don't use the "for you" i use the "I'm following"
and i am very careful about who i follow, i check out the odd account like BashBack to see what they're up to. but only when i want to

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2026 19:36

BoredZelda · 08/01/2026 19:15

I despair with the “it’s all the same” narrative that shows a real lack of critical thinking.

Is AI generally problematic? Yes, it has the potential to be used in a way that causes issues.

Is Grok more problematic than ChatGPT? Well, Grok allows users to take women and children’s pictures from the internet, and superimpose them on to sexually explicit images. Twitter then also allows these to be uploaded to their feed. ChatGPT can lead to false information being given as an answer to a question and is potentially leading to some careers going out of fashion. If you believe these two things are equal in terms of the damage they can do, you might want to re-assess what you consider to be a problem.

With social media, to suggest Bluesky and Twitter are one and the same, that is frankly laughable. Of course both are at risk from users doing bad things, but what matters more is how the software is designed to deal with that. Twitter leaves it alone. The first thing Musk did was remove all the checks and balances, the department which had previously been in place to tackle abuse has been gutted, algorithms were tweaked to severely reduce moderation, and there is little to no oversight of what is posted.

How the algorithms deliver content to you have also been skewed to ensure right wing voices are amplified. When you compare your feed from pre-Elon to post Elon it is like chalk and cheese. My follow list was largely centrist (by UK standards) I was rarely served up content from those either on or flirting with far right wing views. At first it was fine but in the months following Musk’s take over, I was seeing posts which were had some pretty extreme views. Many were overtly racist / anti-Semitic / homophobic. Things which even locked plausible deniability. Twitter told me I was seeing this post from person A (who I didn’t follow) because they were followed by Person B (who I did follow). Because it was so unbelievable that person B (mostly someone I would know) I would go and check. Unsurprisingly, Person B did not follow Person A. The software was designed to fill my feed with content which was extreme. Presumably to goad me into responding and drive traffic, or maybe to see if they could change my view. Over time, 90% of my feed was of content I would rarely want to engage with and even when responding to the kind of posts which previously would have great debates on them, the responses were angry, toxic, worthless. Every so often I click on a Twitter link for something specific and in my notifications there will again be a plethora of “for you” posts which are largely the same far right type posts. There is no way any algorithm would serve me this content based on my use of the site, there is a deliberate attempt to change the entire narrative on there. Bluesky / Threads does not do this. What I see there is way more balanced. I tend not to use any of these types of sites nowadays, (I prefer to watch dogs cronching lettuces on Insta) but if I am in the mood to dip in to any of them, it absolutely will not be Twitter.

Again, if you can’t see why amplifying right wing propaganda on one of the largest social media platforms is a problem, you need to do a bit more research.

Bluesky and Threads don't do the function I want to use Twitter for.

I use Twitter for a reason. The other two are not substitutes.

I use Facebook for different things again.

If I could replace with a tool that worked and had the coverage I want, I would be more inclined to switch. But given I follow for a huge number of news agency feeds from around the world, and various other sources I can't get elsewhere it's effectively not an option.

Not having those would make me more ignorant and less informed. I follow accounts for people and organisations I don't like as much as ones I do like and this is key for me.

I don't want to be in an echo chamber.

Brefugee · 08/01/2026 19:38

BlueSky is like a circle jerk of people who think they are so fab and lovely. Parts of it are vile and toxic

Threads is the same plus all the rage-bait "american in Europe" shite

etc etc

RedToothBrush · 08/01/2026 19:40

BoredZelda · 08/01/2026 19:15

I despair with the “it’s all the same” narrative that shows a real lack of critical thinking.

Is AI generally problematic? Yes, it has the potential to be used in a way that causes issues.

Is Grok more problematic than ChatGPT? Well, Grok allows users to take women and children’s pictures from the internet, and superimpose them on to sexually explicit images. Twitter then also allows these to be uploaded to their feed. ChatGPT can lead to false information being given as an answer to a question and is potentially leading to some careers going out of fashion. If you believe these two things are equal in terms of the damage they can do, you might want to re-assess what you consider to be a problem.

With social media, to suggest Bluesky and Twitter are one and the same, that is frankly laughable. Of course both are at risk from users doing bad things, but what matters more is how the software is designed to deal with that. Twitter leaves it alone. The first thing Musk did was remove all the checks and balances, the department which had previously been in place to tackle abuse has been gutted, algorithms were tweaked to severely reduce moderation, and there is little to no oversight of what is posted.

How the algorithms deliver content to you have also been skewed to ensure right wing voices are amplified. When you compare your feed from pre-Elon to post Elon it is like chalk and cheese. My follow list was largely centrist (by UK standards) I was rarely served up content from those either on or flirting with far right wing views. At first it was fine but in the months following Musk’s take over, I was seeing posts which were had some pretty extreme views. Many were overtly racist / anti-Semitic / homophobic. Things which even locked plausible deniability. Twitter told me I was seeing this post from person A (who I didn’t follow) because they were followed by Person B (who I did follow). Because it was so unbelievable that person B (mostly someone I would know) I would go and check. Unsurprisingly, Person B did not follow Person A. The software was designed to fill my feed with content which was extreme. Presumably to goad me into responding and drive traffic, or maybe to see if they could change my view. Over time, 90% of my feed was of content I would rarely want to engage with and even when responding to the kind of posts which previously would have great debates on them, the responses were angry, toxic, worthless. Every so often I click on a Twitter link for something specific and in my notifications there will again be a plethora of “for you” posts which are largely the same far right type posts. There is no way any algorithm would serve me this content based on my use of the site, there is a deliberate attempt to change the entire narrative on there. Bluesky / Threads does not do this. What I see there is way more balanced. I tend not to use any of these types of sites nowadays, (I prefer to watch dogs cronching lettuces on Insta) but if I am in the mood to dip in to any of them, it absolutely will not be Twitter.

Again, if you can’t see why amplifying right wing propaganda on one of the largest social media platforms is a problem, you need to do a bit more research.

I have my Twitter set to latest posts from who Im following only, not suggested accounts I might like.

It's unusable using suggested posts.

I also use the search facility to find exact topics I want to find out about. But otherwise I don't interact including for likes etc.

AttackCat · 08/01/2026 19:45

Twitter 'back in the day' transformed my career and was a fantastic resource and means for connecting with people. I miss it massively as it was, but it isn't what it was. I've retained my account in the hope that one day things might improve but I never log on any more - partly on principal, partly because it's a pale imitation of what it used to be.

I use Bluesky a bit now but it's just not got the volume or diversity of people on it to make it a proper alternative. Linkedin is picking up a bit for professional stuff but it's still cringey mostly cringey self-promotion.

user4532789 · 08/01/2026 20:33

Thanks for the replies. It's interesting to read the range of opinions and reasons.

@RedToothBrush Sorry, but what about it seems like a trick question?

I have my own opinions, which are that I left around the same time as a PP, with the nazi salute, and I really struggle with the idea that women are finding a way to shrug off the fact that Musk could choose to disable those features on Grok and has decided not to. But, like @AttackCat, I loved it back in the day and miss it.

I am on Bluesky, which is ok for getting a quick overview of the news, but it's not a hugely edifying experience. Even though I largely agree with the sentiments, it's a lot of people expressing the same thing over and over. I do appreciate that the main toxicity seems to be between the far and centre left, so it tends to be pretty tame compared to some of the savagery I saw on X towards the end of my time there.

I do miss funny people, though.

@ditalini Apparently, they've switched the default to 'for you' rather than 'following'. Even before I left, that kept happening, which was one of the reasons I left - I saw the vileness I'd been able to avoid up until then.

@Wolmando
Is this an advert for another platform

Not that I know of.

OP posts:
ditalini · 08/01/2026 20:44

user4532789 · 08/01/2026 20:33

Thanks for the replies. It's interesting to read the range of opinions and reasons.

@RedToothBrush Sorry, but what about it seems like a trick question?

I have my own opinions, which are that I left around the same time as a PP, with the nazi salute, and I really struggle with the idea that women are finding a way to shrug off the fact that Musk could choose to disable those features on Grok and has decided not to. But, like @AttackCat, I loved it back in the day and miss it.

I am on Bluesky, which is ok for getting a quick overview of the news, but it's not a hugely edifying experience. Even though I largely agree with the sentiments, it's a lot of people expressing the same thing over and over. I do appreciate that the main toxicity seems to be between the far and centre left, so it tends to be pretty tame compared to some of the savagery I saw on X towards the end of my time there.

I do miss funny people, though.

@ditalini Apparently, they've switched the default to 'for you' rather than 'following'. Even before I left, that kept happening, which was one of the reasons I left - I saw the vileness I'd been able to avoid up until then.

@Wolmando
Is this an advert for another platform

Not that I know of.

I would say that it sticks with following for a while but it certainly switches back regularly. It's pretty obvious when it has so I switch back.

I couldn't be bothered with bluesky - most of my professional follows decamped there with great displays of virtue signalling but they weren't interesting enough to pick up another platform for.

I basically use Twitter for women's rights/sex realist posts and to follow my sport. That's pretty much it.

Ikeasucks · 08/01/2026 20:48

user4532789 · 08/01/2026 17:15

Young girls, un-consenting women and now this

@eliothiggins.bsky.social‬
Just seen Grok putting the body of the victim of the ICE shooting in Minneapolis into a bikini. Digital corpse desecration now available to the public.
13:30 · 8 Jan 2026

Yeah i saw that - Grok needs to go. Then all the comments from creeps thinking it was absolutely hilarious

Ikeasucks · 08/01/2026 20:55

Radiatorvalves · 08/01/2026 18:29

I came off Twitter about 2 years ago. Now on Blue Sky which is nicer but you don’t get as much relevant info. I wish more big names would move away from X to an alternative platform. And I wish Uk gov would (given the Grok thing) stop having official accounts on X. Do we not have any red lines these days?

twitter can be shit but Bluesky is worse in its sanctimonious hypocrisy

AttackCat · 08/01/2026 21:30

Ikeasucks · 08/01/2026 20:55

twitter can be shit but Bluesky is worse in its sanctimonious hypocrisy

Maybe it’s just the people I follow but a disproportionate amount of the discourse on Bluesky seems to be “why are people still on X when they should be here?”

AllJoyAndNoFun · 08/01/2026 21:34

Twitter has always been a sewer. It’s just that it used to be a left leaning sewer and now it’s a right leaning sewer and people have v little self- awareness. Nothing makes me want to cancel my TRIP sub more than AC banging on about how bad Twitter is now. No Alastair, it was always toxic. It’s just that it used to be your dogs attacking and now it’s theirs.

PacificState · 08/01/2026 21:38

I stuck with X (didn’t use it much, but still had an account) despite the escalating racism and creepy Elon weirdness because I appreciated that gender critical women were allowed to speak freely there, and because (as others have said) porn images are absolutely endemic on Bluesky - maybe I’m not using filters correctly on there, but every time I search for something innocuous I get disgusting misogynist images mixed in with ordinary results.

But yeah, this most recent Grok stuff - that’s it for me. Just the cackling 4Chan trolling of it all, they’re active ‘teehee!’ encouragement of the humiliation of women in the grossest possible way. And the way that Grok prompts have become their own genre of porn. Men are so fucking disappointing. Have had my finger hovering over the app a couple of times recently and just thought - no, they’re not getting my eyeballs or my traffic any more. Enough.

user4532789 · 08/01/2026 21:38

AllJoyAndNoFun · 08/01/2026 21:34

Twitter has always been a sewer. It’s just that it used to be a left leaning sewer and now it’s a right leaning sewer and people have v little self- awareness. Nothing makes me want to cancel my TRIP sub more than AC banging on about how bad Twitter is now. No Alastair, it was always toxic. It’s just that it used to be your dogs attacking and now it’s theirs.

That might be true. I'm not a TRIP listener.

The thing is that it used to be you could read a post and then click on the replies and not have to wade through a barrage of bots and threats and really vile misogynistic, racist shit. By the time I left, I didn't want to read anything beyond the initial post.

OP posts:
Lambington · 08/01/2026 21:40

I deleated it the day Musk stated his support for the AFD. He is revolting as is what he has done to Twitter. The latest stuff withgroks peadophilic imige generator comes as no surprise. I cant understand why anyone with a shred of decency is happy to give him their money.

user4532789 · 08/01/2026 21:41

PacificState · 08/01/2026 21:38

I stuck with X (didn’t use it much, but still had an account) despite the escalating racism and creepy Elon weirdness because I appreciated that gender critical women were allowed to speak freely there, and because (as others have said) porn images are absolutely endemic on Bluesky - maybe I’m not using filters correctly on there, but every time I search for something innocuous I get disgusting misogynist images mixed in with ordinary results.

But yeah, this most recent Grok stuff - that’s it for me. Just the cackling 4Chan trolling of it all, they’re active ‘teehee!’ encouragement of the humiliation of women in the grossest possible way. And the way that Grok prompts have become their own genre of porn. Men are so fucking disappointing. Have had my finger hovering over the app a couple of times recently and just thought - no, they’re not getting my eyeballs or my traffic any more. Enough.

because (as others have said) porn images are absolutely endemic on Bluesky -

It's funny, because I can say, hand on heart, I've never seen a porn image on Bluesky, but to be fair, I don't use the search function much. And I even managed to avoid the Charlie Kirk assassination videos, which everyone I know who was on X was traumatised by.

OP posts: