French authorities have raided the Paris offices of social media platform X and summoned its owner, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, to appear at a hearing as part of a widening criminal investigation into the company, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office announced.

The search is linked to an investigation launched in January last year into allegations that X used biased algorithms and engaged in fraudulent data extraction. According to prosecutors, the scope of the inquiry has since expanded following multiple complaints related to X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok.

The investigation now includes alleged “complicity” by the platform in a range of potential crimes, including the possession and dissemination of pornographic images of minors, defamation through the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images, Holocaust denial, and the manipulation of automated data processing systems.

Prosecutors have requested “voluntary interviews” with Musk, who is chief executive of X’s parent company xAI as well as SpaceX and Tesla, and with X’s former chief executive, Linda Yaccarino. These interviews are scheduled for April 20. Several current and former X employees have also been summoned to appear as witnesses during the same period.

“At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French laws, insofar as it operates on national territory,” the Paris Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

The inquiry is being led by the prosecutor’s cybercrime division, in cooperation with the French police’s cybercrime unit and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol).

In a symbolic move, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office also announced that it was leaving X as a platform, advising the public to follow its updates on LinkedIn and Instagram instead.

X has not yet publicly commented on the raid or the summonses. However, in July the company strongly denied earlier allegations of algorithm manipulation and fraudulent data extraction.

“X is committed to defending its fundamental rights, protecting user data and resisting political censorship,” the company’s global government affairs office said at the time.

The investigation comes amid intensified efforts by France and the European Union to tighten regulation of major social media companies. European authorities argue that platforms such as X, Meta and TikTok have not done enough to combat illegal content, disinformation and hate speech. French officials have been among the most vocal supporters of stricter oversight.

Last week, the European Commission opened a separate investigation into Grok over the creation of sexually explicit fake images of women and minors. The probe is examining whether the AI tool complies with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which obliges platforms to prevent the spread of illegal and harmful content.

In December, the EU fined X €120 million ($141 million) for breaching the DSA’s transparency requirements. The United Kingdom’s media regulator, Ofcom, also launched a formal investigation last month into X over Grok’s alleged role in generating sexualised deepfake content.

The regulatory push has prompted criticism from the United States, where officials warn that aggressive oversight could undermine freedom of expression and disproportionately target US-based technology firms. (ILKHA)