French prosecutors summon Elon Musk over alleged youngster abuse photos on X

[ad_1] Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, the place investigators are wanting into allegations of misconduct associated to the social media platform X, together with the unfold of kid sexual abuse materials and deepfake content material.

The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino – the previous chief govt of X – had been on Monday summoned for “voluntary interviews”, whereas different workers of the platform had been scheduled to be heard as witnesses all through this week, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace stated.

It stays unclear whether or not Musk and Yaccarino will journey to Paris. A spokesperson for X didn't reply to questions from Related Press and Yaccarino’s present firm, eMed, didn't reply a request despatched to the press electronic mail.

Musk was summoned after a search befell in February on the French premises of X as a part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s workplace. Musk and Yaccarino have been invited of their capacities as managers of X on the time of the occasions investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from Could 2023 till July 2025.

“These voluntary interviews with the executives are meant to permit them to current their place concerning the info and, the place applicable, the compliance measures they plan to implement,” prosecutors stated. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is a part of a constructive method, with the final word goal of making certain that platform X complies with French regulation, insofar because it operates throughout the nationwide territory.”

Requested whether or not Musk would danger sanctions if he skipped the listening to, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace declined to remark.

French authorities opened their investigation after experiences from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X doubtless distorted the functioning of an automatic knowledge processing system. It expanded after the platform’s AI system, Grok , generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, against the law in France, and unfold sexually express deepfakes.

The investigation is wanting into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic photos of minors, sexually express deepfakes, denial of crimes towards humanity and manipulation of an automatic knowledge processing system as a part of an organised group, amongst different expenses.

Grok, which was constructed by xAI and is offered via X, sparked international outrage this yr after it pumped out a torrent of sexualised nonconsensual deepfake photos in response to requests from X customers.

Grok additionally wrote in a extensively shared submit in French that gasoline chambers on the Auschwitz-Birkenau dying camp had been designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B towards typhus” quite than for mass homicide – language lengthy related to Holocaust denial.

In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was incorrect, saying it had been deleted, and pointed to historic proof that Zyklon B was used to kill greater than 1 million folks in Auschwitz gasoline chambers.

In March, the Paris prosecutor’s workplace alerted the US Division of Justice and the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) – the US federal company answerable for regulating and overseeing monetary markets – suggesting “that the controversy surrounding sexually express deepfakes generated by Grok could have been intentionally orchestrated to artificially enhance the worth of the businesses X and xAI – probably constituting felony offences,” prosecutors stated.

The Paris prosecutor’s workplace stated this might have been completed “forward of the deliberate June 2026 inventory market itemizing of the brand new entity shaped by the merger of SpaceX and xAI, at a time when firm X was clearly dropping momentum”.

In accordance with the Wall Road Journal, the justice division advised French regulation enforcement authorities it will not facilitate their efforts to research Musk’s X. The newspaper reported that the justice division’s workplace of worldwide affairs, in a two-page letter final week, accused the French of inappropriately utilizing its justice system to intervene with an American enterprise.

“This investigation seeks to make use of the felony authorized system in France to control a public sq. for the free expression of concepts and opinions in a way opposite to the First Modification of america Structure,” stated the letter quoted by the Wall Road Journal.

The letter additionally stated France’s requests for US help “represent an effort to entangle america in a politically charged felony continuing aimed toward wrongfully regulating via prosecution the enterprise actions of a social media platform”.