I feel a little less worried about Elon being able to tweak Grok for the benefit of his own propaganda goals now that we can see how blatantly obvious it is when it happens.
Or you can pretend Elon Musk is a cartoon villain, whatever floats your boat.
I think no matter the cause, users should demand better quality and/or switch to a different model. Or, you know, stop trusting a magical black box to think for them.
Pretty sure most people won't come out of that with a particularly nuanced view of the situation in South Africa.
Good manipulation is subtle.
e: And since that reply is in the same thread, here's an example of it happening in a completely different one. Not difficult to find these. https://x.com/grok/status/1922682536762958026
What do you think villains do in cartoons