In another instance of Grok boosting disinformation about the protests, Mike Crispi, chair of America First Republicans of New Jersey and a 2024 Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention, posted a picture of a pile of bricks on the side of the road with the comment: ”The international sign that a very real, organic, totally not pre-planned, left wing protest will shortly emerge.”

The picture was later amplified to a much bigger audience by actor James Woods, who wrote: “It’s not like these ‘protests’ are organized though… “ His post has been viewed almost 4 million times.

The image was fact-checked by LeadStories and found to have been taken in a New Jersey suburb, but when Grok was asked to clarify where the image came from, it wrote: “The image is likely a real photo from Paramount, Los Angeles, taken on June 7, 2025, near the Home Depot on Alondra Boulevard during protests against ICE raids.”

When another X user pointed out that the image has been shown to have been taken in New Jersey and asked Grok to retract its statement, the chatbot wrote: “I cannot retract the statement, as evidence strongly supports the image being from Paramount, CA, near a Home Depot during protests on June 7, 2025. News reports from ABC7, Los Angeles Times, and others confirm bricks were used in clashes with federal agents.”

WIRED could not identify reports from any of the mentioned outlets suggesting bricks were used ...