French authorities have raided the Paris offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform X as part of a widening criminal investigation that now includes the company’s AI chatbot, Grok. The probe, launched by the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit with support from Europol, is examining multiple alleged offences connected to X and its AI operations, officials said.
The year-long investigation, which began in January 2025, was initially focused on complaints over X’s algorithm and data handling. French prosecutors have now broadened the scope to include accusations of complicity in possession and distribution of child-pornographic material, sexually explicit deepfakes, Holocaust denial content, and fraudulent data extraction tied to Grok and related automated systems.
As part of the action, prosecutors have summoned Elon Musk and X’s former CEO, Linda Yaccarino, to appear for voluntary interviews in April 2026, along with other staff members who may be asked to give testimony. The Paris prosecutor’s office said the aim of the investigation is to ensure that the platform complies with French law as it operates on national territory.
In a separate but related move, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has opened a formal investigation into X and its AI arm xAI over the Grok chatbot. UK regulators are examining whether Grok’s generation of harmful and non-consensual sexualised imagery breached data protection and privacy laws, particularly under GDPR.
Britain’s media regulator Ofcom is also continuing its own probe into X’s compliance with online safety rules related to the spread of disturbing content, though it has said it is not currently investigating xAI directly due to legal limitations.
The raids in Paris and the UK investigations come amid growing global scrutiny of X, Grok, and AI-driven content moderation practices, following public outrage over widespread deepfake imagery circulating on the platform.
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