Paris– Paris (AP) – Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris on Monday, where investigators are probing allegations of misconduct related to social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake material.
Linda Yaccarino, the world’s richest man and former CEO of
It is unclear whether Musk and Yaccarino will travel to Paris. A spokesperson for
After this Musk was called a discovery was made in February at X’s French premises as part of an investigation launched in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino have been cited as managers of X at the time of the investigated events. Yakarino was the ceo From May 2023 to July 2025.
“The purpose of these voluntary interviews with officials is to allow them to present their position regarding the facts and, where appropriate, plan to implement compliance measures,” prosecutors said. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, the ultimate aim of which is to ensure that Platform
Asked whether Musk would risk sanctions if he did not attend the hearing, the Paris prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
French authorities launched their investigation following a report by a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X distorted the functioning of automated data processing systems. After the platform’s AI system expanded, grokCreated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes.
It is investigating alleged “collusion” in possessing and spreading indecent images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulating an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other allegations.
Grok, which was created by xAI and is available through global outrage This year it released a stream of erotic non-consensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.
Grok also wrote in a widely shared post in French that on the gas chambers auschwitz-birkenau The death camp was designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than mass murder – language long associated with Holocaust denial.
In a subsequent post on
In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the US Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – the US federal agency responsible for regulating and overseeing financial markets – suggesting that “the controversy surrounding the sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok has been deliberately staged to artificially boost the value of Companies X and XAI – potentially constituting a criminal offence,” prosecutors said.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said it could have been done “before the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity formed by the merger of SpaceX and XAI, at a time when Company X was clearly losing momentum.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department told French law enforcement officials that it would not facilitate their efforts to investigate Musk’s Ax. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs accused the French of improperly using their justice system to interfere in an American business in a two-page letter last week, the newspaper reported.
“This investigation seeks to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate the public square for the free expression of ideas and opinions contrary to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the letter, cited by the Wall Street Journal, said.
The letter also said France’s request for U.S. assistance is “an attempt to embroil the United States in politically charged criminal proceedings aimed at unfairly regulating the business activities of social media platforms through prosecution.”
French judicial officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it has filed a new complaint against
RSF said, “There is a flood of disinformation campaigns, some of which have received several million views. Although employees of Elon Musk’s platform are well aware of the situation, this has not stopped them from responding to RSF’s repeated alerts with automatic refusals to remove relevant content.” “This is a deliberate policy initiated by X, and it is inconsistent with the public’s right to reliable information.”
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Associated Press reporter Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this story.
