French prosecutors have raided the Paris headquarters of Elon Musk’s social media platform X and summoned the billionaire and the company’s former chief executive for questioning as part of a cybercrime investigation.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the search was being carried out by its cybercrime unit, the national police cyber division and Europol. In a post on X on Tuesday, the office added that it would no longer publish on the platform.
In a separate statement, prosecutors confirmed that Musk and Linda Yaccarino, who stepped down as X’s chief executive in July last year, had been called in for voluntary questioning. They were summoned in their capacity as the platform’s “de facto and de jure managers” at the time of the alleged offences.
The investigation is examining alleged complicity in several crimes linked to the platform’s operation. These include the spread of child sexual abuse material, the circulation of sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and the manipulation of automated data processing systems as part of an organised group.
French authorities opened the inquiry in January last year following a complaint from Éric Bothorel, a centre-right MP. He alleged that biased algorithms on X may have distorted the platform’s data processing and influenced the content recommended to users.
Bothorel said he was deeply concerned by what he described as recent changes to the platform’s algorithms and apparent interference in its management since Musk acquired the company in 2022. Other complaints accused X of promoting an increase in what was described as “nauseating political content”.
The scope of the investigation was later widened after reports criticised the conduct of X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. The chatbot was accused of engaging in Holocaust denial and spreading sexually explicit deepfake material.
X was approached for comment following Tuesday’s raid.
Last summer, the company said it would not comply with requests from French authorities linked to the investigation, which it described as politically motivated. It denied accusations of algorithm manipulation and fraudulent data extraction.
X also said it believed the inquiry was misusing French law to pursue a political agenda and restrict free speech. The company said it remained committed to defending its rights, protecting user data and resisting political censorship.
