French prosecutors raided X offices in Paris over illegal content; Elon Musk and CEO summoned for voluntary interviews in April.
French prosecutors, with France’s National Gendarmerie and Europol support, raided the X offices in Paris in a criminal probe over complaints that the platform facilitated child sexual abuse material and other illegal content.
The probe began in January after complaints accused X of aiding possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino have been summoned for voluntary interviews in Paris in April as part of the investigation. Musk claims that the investigation is a “political attack”.
Lawmakers also reported sexually explicit deepfakes featuring minors generated by X’s AI, Grok. The inquiry covers illegal content, denial of crimes against humanity, unauthorized data extraction, and operating an illicit online platform.
Prosecutors said company employees must testify as witnesses, but no charges have been filed.
X says French authorities raided its Paris office in a politicized probe, targeting employees unfairly. The company denies wrongdoing, calls the raid baseless, and vows to defend its rights and users.
“French judicial authorities raided X’s Paris office today in connection with a politicized criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of algorithms and purported fraudulent data extraction. We are disappointed by this development, but we are not surprised.” the company wrote on X. “The Paris Public Prosecutor’s office widely publicized the raid—making clear that today’s action was an abusive act of law enforcement theater designed to achieve illegitimate political objectives rather than advance legitimate law enforcement goals rooted in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”
UK authorities are also investigating sexual deepfakes made by Grok on X. Ofcom calls it urgent but lacks powers over chatbots, while the ICO probes personal data misuse. The EU also examines xAI, coordinating with France after X’s Paris office raid.
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