French prosecutors have raided the Paris headquarters of Elon Musk's social media platform X as part of an investigation into alleged cybercrime. The raid, conducted by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor's office, the national police cyber unit and Europol, is part of a probe launched in January last year.
The investigation initially focused on suspected abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction but has since been widened to include complaints about X's artificial intelligence tool, Grok. Alleged offences now include complicity in the possession and organised distribution of child abuse images, violation of image rights through sexualised deepfakes, and denial of crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors have summoned Elon Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino for voluntary questioning in April. Yaccarino resigned from the role in July last year. The summons relates to their capacity as managers of the platform at the time of the alleged events.
The raid comes amid a hardening of European attitudes towards social media firms. In Greece, a senior government source said the country was close to announcing a social media ban for children under 15. Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has promised measures including a ban for under-16s, describing social media as a 'failed state where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated'.
X has condemned the raid as an 'abusive act of law enforcement theater designed to achieve illegitimate political objectives'. The company said the allegations were baseless and that it categorically denied any wrongdoing. The Paris prosecutor's office said the investigation was being conducted constructively.
