Tech giant Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and founder of
The date was reportedly set in February after the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit raided the social media platform’s French office in an investigation related to fraudulent data extraction, but it was unclear whether Musk would attend the hearing.
The investigation later expanded to include suspected involvement in the distribution of child pornography and the creation of sexual deepfakes.
While attendance at Monday’s hearing is mandatory, officials cannot compel Musk to attend at this stage.
In July, Musk initially denied the allegations and said that French prosecutors were launching a “politically motivated criminal investigation”.
As reported by Reuters, X has come under criticism from regulators and governments in several countries since Musk took over the platform, with officials investigating issues including content moderation, data practices and compliance with local laws.
The case focuses on whether X’s algorithms distorted the treatment of content on the platform and whether the company improperly extracted user data, following complaints from French lawmakers and advocacy groups, prosecutors have said.
In a sign that the investigation is likely to worsen already strained relations with Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the US Justice Department sent a letter to the Paris prosecutor saying it would not cooperate with the investigation, which it considers politically motivated.
The Paris prosecutor said he had no knowledge of any such letter, adding that “the French Constitution guarantees the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary.”
Additionally, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino and several other X staff have also been called as witnesses for questioning.
After such a hearing, authorities may decide to either stop or continue the investigation and potentially place the suspects under formal investigation.
Notably, the Elon Musk-owned platforms ‘X’ and ‘xAI’ have been under scrutiny for over a year due to child safety concerns due to free online editing tools and openly shared explicit content material, which has led to it being banned in several countries around the world.
