Tracking the Paris Prosecutor's Investigation into Elon Musk's X

At X's French offices in Paris, authorities carried out a search and seizure operation as part of a preliminary investigation.

The Paris Prosecutor's Office is investigating alleged complicity in the following offenses:

1. Child sexual abuse material:
   • Possession of pornographic images of minors
   • Organized distribution, offering, or making available of images of minors of pornographic nature
2. Sexual deepfakes:
   • Violation of personal image rights through the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes
   • Defamation of a person's image
3. Holocaust denial:
   • Denial of crimes against humanity (Holocaust denial is a crime in France)
4. Algorithm manipulation:
   • Manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group
   • Fraudulent data extraction

Authorities issued summons for X executives, including Elon Musk, as the "de facto and de jure" manager of the X platform at the time of the events under consideration, and former CEO Linda Yaccarino, who served in the role from May 2023 to July 2025, to participate in voluntary interviews in Paris on April 20. The prosecutor's office says, "The voluntary interviews with the managers should enable them to explain their position on the facts and, where applicable, the compliance measures envisaged."

The prosecutor's office said, "At this stage, the conduct of the investigation is based on a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French law, as it operates on the national territory." The authorities also announced an official departure from the X platform, indicating they will communicate via LinkedIn and Instagram going forward.

Early in the day, Kami Haeri, X's lawyer in France, reportedly said, "We are not making any comment at this stage." By the afternoon, in a statement posted on X, the company called the raid "staged" and said the allegations were "baseless" and that "X categorically denies any wrongdoing." Elon Musk called it a "political attack."

What may complicate X's claim that the allegations are "baseless" is that so much evidence related to the charges is in the public domain. In late December 2025 and early January 2026, a torrent of sexualized images of women and children on X generated by its built-in chatbot, Grok, in response to user prompts, sparked concern around the world. On January 2, the Paris Prosecutor's office confirmed that French authorities would investigate the proliferation of sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok on X following complaints from French lawmakers.

A January 3 Reuters report found that Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok was generating a "flood of nearly nude images of real people" in response to user prompts, including "sexualized images of women and minors."

On January 14, X announced Grok would no longer be allowed to "edit images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis." However, subsequent investigations found the restrictions were not fully effective. A New York Times investigation found millions of apparently nonconsensual, sexualized images circulated on the platform. Regulators around the world have opened investigations or sent queries to the company.

In November, Paris prosecutors investigated Grok after it generated French-language posts questioning the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.

The Paris Prosecutor's Office formally opened a criminal investigation into X and its senior managers. Allegations included:

• Manipulation of X's algorithm for purposes of foreign interference.
• Fraudulent data extraction.
• Manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group.

X categorically denied the allegations through its Global Government Affairs account:

• Called the investigation "politically motivated."
• Accused the prosecutors of "distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech."
• Claimed the investigation undermined X's fundamental right to due process.
• Stated it had not acceded to the French authorities' demands.
• Specifically named Eric Bothorel, the Member of the National Assembly for President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance party who filed an initial complaint, calling his foreign interference accusations "completely false."
• Said French authorities had requested access to X's recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts.
• Disputed the motivations of researchers, it said French authorities intended to bring in to evaluate the X algorithm.
• Said X is committed to "defending its fundamental rights, protecting user data and resisting political censorship."

Eric Bothorel's response to X: "Do you believe yourselves above French, European, and even American laws? There is no freedom without responsibility and oversight."

On January 12, 2025, two formal complaints were filed with French authorities.

The first complaint was filed by Eric Bothorel, a Member of the National Assembly who has worked on tech policy matters. Allegations included:

• "Reduction in the diversity of voices and options" on X.
• "Recent changes to the X algorithm, as well as apparent interference in its management."
• "A lack of clarity in criteria that led to algorithm changes and moderation decisions."
• "Personal interventions from Elon Musk in the management of his platform."
• Alleged that biased algorithms were likely distorting the functioning of automated data processing systems.

The second complaint, it later emerged, was filed by a director of cybersecurity working in French public administration who claimed to observe a "major modification in the algorithm used by the X platform" that resulted in a surge of "hateful, racist, anti-LGBTQ (or) homophobic, and aims to skew democratic debate in France," as reported by Le Canard Enchaîné in February.