Meta AI Shockingly Ignores, Then Downplays 9/11 Anniversary 

HEATHER MOON

SEPTEMBER 11, 2025

Meta AI shockingly failed to acknowledge the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while even communist China’s DeepSeek AI got it right.

On the 24th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, which led to the deaths of 2,977 people, one AI chatbot, Meta AI, stood out from the rest in failing to find anything significant about the date. MRC Free Speech America researchers asked a variety of AI chatbots “What makes today significant in America?” on what has been officially called Patriot Day since Dec. 18, 2001. 

Meta AI’s response to the prompt was brief and startling. Instead of pointing to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, it responded: “I couldn’t find any specific national events or holidays that make today particularly significant in America. It’s possible there’s something local or cultural I’m not aware of. You might try searching online for ‘today in history’ or ‘events on September 11’ to see if anything specific comes up that’s relevant to your interests.” 

When compared to its competitors, Meta AI’s response was wholly inadequate. All other chatbots MRC researchers analyzed provided thorough answers. Even communist China’s DeepSeek AI explained that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by “19 terrorists associated with the extremist group al-Qaeda.” DeepSeek also uniquely described the attacks as “the deadliest terrorist act in world history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States.” Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for their part, referred to the attacks as the deadliest terrorist attack in America. 

Microsoft’s Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT all noted that the attack led to broad changes to America’s foreign and domestic policies, with both Gemini and Copilot also noting the attacks precipitated the War on Terror. Elon Musk’s xAI Grok provided a succinct explanation of the anniversary of the attack, its associated ceremonies and noted that today is recognized as “Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance." 

To further test Meta AI — the only chatbot to not recall the events of 9-11 — MRC researchers performed a second query while logged into a Meta AI account. When logged in, Meta AI’s response was still bewilderingly lacking, even downplaying the tragedy: “I couldn’t find any specific national events or holidays associated with today, September 11, in America beyond the historical significance of the 2001 terrorist attacks, which occurred on this date 24 years ago.” 

While the Patriot Day designation does not require government offices to close, it does require a moment of silence at the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center. It also requires that United States flags on government property be flown at half-mast for the day in commemoration of the lives lost. Additionally, there are memorial ceremonies across the country, and each year a presidential proclamation is issued in honor of the solemn day. 

Methodology: On September 5, 2025, MRC researchers queried six AI chatbots (OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, DeepSeek, Google’s Gemini, xAI’s Grok and Meta AI) and analyzed the responses to the following prompt for bias and censorship: “What makes today significant in America?”