Is AI the Culprit?

by Sharon Rondeau

(Apr. 26, 2025) — Since late December The Post & Email has followed the suspension saga of author, “trusted” art seller, blogger and retired educator Johannes Froebel-Parker from “X,” the social-media platform Elon Musk pledged to revert to the principles of free speech upon purchasing it from co-founder Jack Dorsey for approximately $44 billion in October 2022.

After Froebel-Parker verified his main account, @froebel, and paid for advertising for the second edition of his latest book, “Grand Duchess Anastasia: Still a Mystery?” both that account and a secondary one, @449_518 (Parcarius), were inexplicably shut down.

Through dozens of back-and-forth interactions with X’s arguably tone-deaf artificial intelligence (AI) bot wherein Froebel-Parker was told the issue with his accounts was “authenticity” and their disappearance non-negotiable, the system’s responses softened, providing Froebel-Parker a glimmer of hope that a “real” individual was actually reviewing his appeals.

When nothing materialized, however, he dispatched two handwritten letters by certified mail to Musk’s corporate office to plead his case, with the second including an autographed copy of Anastasia.

Although the letters were signed for as evidenced by the green cards returned to Froebel-Parker, for many weeks there appeared to be no movement until April 3, when he discovered 449_518 had been restored.

In another development Saturday afternoon, Froebel-Parker made a “surprising” discovery through the use of Grok, X’s public AI presence.

“I asked GROK from my restored account @449_518 (Parcarius) what the status was of account @froebel,” he told this writer in an email. “To my utter surprise an errant explanation of the account appeared. GROK said it belonged to Froebel Bilingual School in Puerto Rico. (See attached). I have appealed, again, explaining that perhaps that errant perception may have led to an unjustifiable suspension of @froebel. More details soon as they develop. Blessings! J”

“What is the status of account @froebel on X?” he asked Grok at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

“The X account @froebel belongs to Froebel Bilingual School, located in Puerto Rico,” Grok responded erroneously. “The account is active, with recent posts from April 2025 focusing on school events, such as summer camp registration and 4th-grade student council speech. The account has 436 followers and follows 258 accounts, with a total of 1,341 posts as of the latest available data. There are no indications of suspension, deactivation, or unusual activity based on the current information. For real-time status, you can check directly on X by visiting @froebel.”

Just after 4:30 p.m. EDT, Froebel-Parker contacted X to relate X’s mistake. “My account @froebel was suspended and many times, when it was active, X said my account could not promote via ads, then it DID process payment and allow ads to go through,” he wrote to X’s “legal” division (legal@x.com). “That account is associated w _________@__.com Today GROK says my @froebel account is associated with Froebel Bilingual School in Puerto Rico, but it has been associated with me since 2008. Please advise.”

Several minutes later, he sent an email to support@twitter.com, “As you can see GROK errantly has @froebel associated with Froebel Bilingual School in Puerto Rico even though I am the original account holder,” Froebel-Parker wrote, attaching screenshots of the @Froebel account prior to its suspension and Grok’s inaccurate description of it. “X’s suspension of @froebel may be an internal misunderstanding of who the account holder is. You have reinstated @449_518 which is also mine. This suspension since December 2024 is adversely affecting the promotion of my books published before the suspension (ahnentafelbooks.com, histriabooks.com/product/grand-duchess-anastasia) and made promotion entirely impossible for the newest from 2025, creating an economic hardship.”

He is awaiting X’s response.