Elon Musk summoned to Paris in X child-abuse and deepfake investigation

Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris for Monday by French prosecutors investigating allegations of child sexual abuse material and deepfakes on the social media platform X, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Linda Yaccarino, X’s former chief executive, has also been summoned for what prosecutors describe as “voluntary interviews.”

The investigation, opened in January 2025, represents part of a broader French effort to scrutinize tech platforms over illegal content and algorithm manipulation. Prosecutors suspect the deepfake controversy may have been deliberately orchestrated to boost the value of Musk-owned companies ahead of a planned June 2026 stock-market listing.

Investigation Launched in January 2025

French prosecutors opened the investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. The investigation expanded when the AI system generated content that violated French law, prosecutors said.

Musk and Yaccarino, who served as X’s chief executive from May 2023 until July 2025, have been invited to present their position regarding the facts under investigation and, where appropriate, any compliance measures they plan to implement, according to prosecutors. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within the national territory,” prosecutors said.

The Paris prosecutor’s office indicated that Musk and Yaccarino’s potential absence on Monday would not prevent the investigation from continuing. Other X employees are scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout the week. It remains unclear whether either executive will travel to Paris. A spokesperson for X did not respond to questions from the Associated Press, and Yaccarino’s current company, eMed, did not answer requests for comment.

Grok’s Problematic Output

Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, generated a torrent of sexually explicit nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users, sparking international concern.

The AI system also generated a widely-shared post in French stating that gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder—language long associated with Holocaust denial. Holocaust denial is a crime in France.

In subsequent posts on X, Grok reversed its position. The chatbot acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, said it had been deleted, and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.

Allegations of Deliberate Orchestration

French prosecutors believe the deepfake controversy may have been deliberately manufactured to boost company valuations. In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggesting that “the controversy surrounding sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the value of the companies X and xAI—potentially constituting criminal offenses.”

Prosecutors believe the timing was strategic. The orchestration, if it occurred, would have preceded “the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity formed by the merger of Space X and xAI, at a time when company X was clearly losing momentum,” according to prosecutors.

U.S. Response and Broader Platform Scrutiny

The U.S. Justice Department rejected the French request for assistance. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs told French law enforcement in a two-page letter that it would not help with the investigation.

The letter accused France of “inappropriately using its justice system to interfere with an American business.” It further stated that France’s requests for U.S. assistance “constitute an effort to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding aimed at wrongfully regulating through prosecution the business activities of a social media platform.”

The Paris investigation is part of a broader French effort to examine tech platforms for suspected illegal activities. The Paris prosecutor’s office has launched investigations into several internet companies in recent years. Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messaging app, was handed preliminary charges and placed under judicial supervision for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the platform, including child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking. The prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into TikTok last year over allegations that the platform allows content promoting suicide and that its algorithms may encourage vulnerable young people to take their own lives.

Reporters Without Borders has filed a complaint against X with the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office targeting “the platform’s policies that allow disinformation to flourish.”