French prosecutors raided Elon Musk’s X offices in Paris on Tuesday and summoned the billionaire to appear for questioning over allegations that include distributing child sexual abuse material, generating sexual deepfakes, and Holocaust denial content.
Yes, you read that right.
WHAT’S GOING ON: The Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit, working with French police and Europol, searched X’s French offices early Tuesday as part of a year-long investigation into the platform. Both Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino have been issued voluntary summons to appear in Paris the week of April 20.
The investigation covers some serious allegations: complicity in possessing and distributing “child pornography images,” violating personal rights through sexual deepfakes, denial of “crimes against humanity,” and fraudulent data extraction as part of an organized gang.
THE DETAILS: The probe has been expanded following complaints about X’s AI chatbot Grok, which has faced widespread criticism for generating sexualized images. The European Union fined X $140 million last year for failing to combat hate speech and misinformation, and just last month launched a formal investigation into Grok’s sexual deepfake capabilities.
The Paris prosecutor’s office made its stance crystal clear: it announced it’s shutting down its own X account and will communicate on LinkedIn and Instagram instead.
BUT BUT BUT: X’s Global Government Affairs account has previously called the French investigation “politically motivated” and said the company “categorically denies” the allegations. The platform didn’t immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the raid.
WHY IT MATTERS: This raid comes just one day after Musk announced that SpaceX acquired his AI startup xAI—the company behind Grok—in what he called a record-setting deal. While Musk waxes poetic about “scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe,” French prosecutors are asking pointed questions about what his platforms are actually doing right now on Earth.
European regulators have shown they’re not intimidated by Musk’s wealth or political connections, and this investigation suggests the pressure isn’t letting up anytime soon.