French cybercrime authorities have summoned billionaire Elon Musk for a “voluntary interview” after police on Tuesday carried out searches at the France offices of his social media platform, X, according to the Paris public prosecutor’s office.
The operation, conducted with the support of the EU police agency Europol, was linked to an investigation launched in January 2025 into allegations that X’s algorithm was used to interfere in French political affairs.
In a statement, prosecutors said “Summons for voluntary interviews on April 20, 2026, in Paris have been sent to Mr Elon Musk and Ms Linda Yaccarino, in their capacity as de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events.”
Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X in July last year, after serving two years in the position.
The Paris cybercrime unit initiated the police investigation in July 2025, following complaints filed earlier in January, alleging offences including the manipulation and extraction of data from automated systems “as part of a criminal gang.”
One of the complaints was submitted by Eric Bothorel, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, who accused the platform of limiting diversity of opinions and criticised Musk’s direct involvement in its management since acquiring X in 2022.
Prosecutors said the scope of the investigation was later expanded after further reports raised concerns about the role of X’s AI chatbot, Grok, in spreading Holocaust denial content and sexually explicit deepfake material.
In response, X’s France director, Laurent Buanec, rejected the allegations in January 2025, insisting that the platform operates under “strict, clear and public rules” designed to combat hate speech and disinformation.
The United States also sharply criticised the probe in July, vowing to defend Americans’ free speech rights against what it described as “acts of foreign censorship.”
X has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, describing the investigation as “politically motivated.”
Separately, the European Union in late January opened an investigation into X over Grok’s alleged generation of sexualised deepfake images of women and minors, despite warnings from Washington of possible retaliation over the enforcement of tech regulations that the Trump administration argues restrict free expression and disproportionately target US companies.
AFP
