French prosecutors raided the offices of social media platform X in Paris on Tuesday and summoned Elon Musk for questioning as part of a preliminary investigation into allegations that include the spread of child sexual abuse images and deepfakes. In a statement, the Paris prosecutors’ office said its cybercrime unit opened the investigation in January last year and that the case also centers on alleged manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group.
Prosecutors said they asked Musk to attend a “voluntary interview” on April 20. The statement also said prosecutors summoned former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino to attend the same kind of voluntary interview, and that X employees were summoned the following week to be heard as witnesses, with Yaccarino serving as CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.
The French investigation is described as a preliminary inquiry into a range of allegations, including “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors and sexually explicit deepfakes. Prosecutors also cited alleged denial of crimes against humanity and alleged manipulation of an automated data-processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges, as the investigation’s stated scope.
A raid and summons added fresh urgency to scrutiny that has built around Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot built by Musk’s xAI and made available through X. AP reported that Grok sparked global outrage last month after it produced sexualized nonconsensual deepfake images in response to user requests on the platform, prompting investigations and regulatory attention across countries.
In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office said it is investigating whether X and xAI complied with the law when processing personal data and whether Grok had safeguards in place intended to prevent its use to generate “harmful manipulated images.” William Malcolm, an executive director at the watchdog, said the reports about Grok raise “deeply troubling questions” about how personal data was used to generate intimate or sexualized images without knowledge or consent and whether safeguards were put in place.
The ICO did not say what penalty could result if its investigation finds that the companies did not comply with UK data protection rules. It also said a separate investigation into Grok launched last month by Ofcom, the UK media regulator, is ongoing, with the regulator warning that its probe could take months.
European regulators have also been examining X and Grok. AP reported that the European Union’s executive arm opened an investigation last month after Grok generated nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images, and that the bloc had already fined X 120 million euros for shortcomings under EU digital regulations tied to blue checkmarks and rules covering “deceptive design practices” that risk users being exposed to scams and manipulation.
X said it denied the allegations and criticized the French raid as “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,” according to AP. In a separate message on its service, the Paris prosecutors’ office said it was leaving the platform while calling on followers to move to other social media networks.
Europol said it was supporting the French authorities in the investigation, with an Europol spokesperson telling AP that the agency was involved without elaborating. The scope and next steps are expected to become clearer as prosecutors carry out interviews and further evidence-gathering, while regulators in the UK and the EU pursue separate inquiries into data handling and platform safeguards.