French cybercrime police, with support from Europol, have raided the offices of X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, as part of an ongoing investigation into the company’s operations.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the action is linked to a probe into content recommended by X’s algorithm, which has since been expanded to include scrutiny of its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok.
Prosecutors confirmed that both Elon Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino have been summoned to appear at hearings scheduled for April.
X has not yet responded publicly to the development, though the company has previously described the investigation as an attack on free speech. Requests for comment have been sent to the platform.
The investigation was launched in January 2025 and widened in July following reports of sexually explicit deepfakes and Holocaust denial content circulating on the platform. At the time, X dismissed the expanded probe as “politically motivated” and denied any manipulation of its algorithm.
Prosecutors say the investigation now covers multiple potential offences, including alleged complicity in the possession or organised distribution of illegal images involving minors, violations of image rights through sexually explicit deepfakes, and fraudulent data extraction by an organised group.
The prosecutor’s office also announced it would no longer use X to communicate with the public, saying it would instead post updates on LinkedIn and Instagram.
X has faced growing scrutiny in recent months over the use of its AI tool Grok to generate and edit sexualised images, often using real photos of women without their consent. The issue sparked strong criticism from victims, online safety advocates and politicians before the company moved to restrict the practice.
In late January, the European Commission opened a separate investigation into X’s parent company, xAI, over concerns linked to the images. A similar probe had earlier been launched by the UK media regulator, Ofcom.
