Paris: Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris on Monday, where investigators are examining a series of serious allegations linked to the social media platform X, including the dissemination of child sexual abuse material and the generation and distribution of sexually explicit deepfake images, agencies reported.
Executives grilled in Paris probe
Musk and Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X, have been called in for “voluntary interviews,” while other current and former employees of the platform are scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout the week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It remains unclear whether Musk and Yaccarino will travel to Paris for the hearings. A spokesperson for X did not respond to questions from The Associated Press, and Yaccarino’s current company, eMed, did not answer a request sent to its press email account.
Why Musk summoned
Musk was formally summoned after a search conducted in February at the French offices of X, as part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Both Musk and Yaccarino have been invited in their capacities as managers of X at the time of the events under scrutiny. Yaccarino served as CEO of X from May 2023 until July 2025.
“These voluntary interviews with the executives are intended to allow them to present their position regarding the facts and, where appropriate, the compliance measures they plan to implement,” prosecutors said. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within the national territory.”
Asked whether Musk would risk sanctions if he skipped the hearing, the Paris prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
Focus of investigation
French authorities opened the investigation following reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data‑processing system. The scope of the probe expanded after the platform’s AI model, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust—a crime in France—and also disseminated sexually explicit deepfakes.
The investigation is looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity, and manipulation of an automated data‑processing system as part of an organized group, among other potential charges.
Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage earlier this year after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized non-consensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users. In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted, and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.
French prosecutors alert US authorities
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the misconduct under investigation could have been carried out “ahead of the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity formed by the merger of Space X and xAI, at a time when company X was clearly losing momentum.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the US Justice Department told French law enforcement authorities it would not facilitate their efforts to investigate Musk’s X. The newspaper reported that the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, in a two‑page letter last week, accused the French of inappropriately using its justice system to interfere with an American business.
“This investigation seeks to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate a public square for the free expression of ideas and opinions in a manner contrary to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” said the letter quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
The letter also stated that France’s requests for U.S. assistance “constitute an effort to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding aimed at wrongfully regulating through prosecution the business activities of a social media platform.”
