Prosecutors are investigating social media platform over content, AI chatbot Grok, fraudulent data extraction
\n Paris
\nFrench police raided the offices of Elon Musk\u2019s social media network X on Tuesday and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in a widening investigation, amid growing scrutiny of the platform by authorities across Europe.
\nThe raid by the Paris prosecutor\u2019s cybercrime unit and Musk\u2019s summoning \u2014 which could further increase tensions between Europe and the US over Big Tech and free speech \u2014 are linked to a year-long investigation into suspected abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction by X or its executives.
\nBritain\u2019s privacy watchdog, meanwhile, also kicked off a formal investigation into Musk\u2019s artificial-intelligence chatbot Grok over the processing of personal data and its potential to produce harmful sexualized images and video content.
\n\u201cThe Paris Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office is plainly attempting to exert pressure on X\u2019s senior management in the United States by targeting our French entity and employees, who are not the focus of this investigation,\u201d X said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe Prosecutor\u2019s Office has ignored the established procedural mechanisms to obtain evidence in compliance with international treaties and X\u2019s rights to defend itself.\u201d
\nReferring to the raids, Musk said in a post on X, \u201cThis is a political attack.\u201d
\nInvestigation includes sexually explicit deepfakes
\nIn a statement, the Paris prosecutor\u2019s office said it had broadened the scope of its investigation following complaints over the functioning of Grok.
\nThe French probe will now also investigate alleged complicity in the \u201cdetention and diffusion\u201d of images of a child-pornographic nature and the violation of a person\u2019s image rights with sexually explicit deepfakes, among other potential crimes.
\nMusk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino were summoned to a hearing on April 20. Other X staff were also summoned as witnesses.
\nIn July, Musk denied the initial accusations and said French prosecutors were launching a \u201cpolitically-motivated criminal investigation\u201d.
\nWidening probes into X
\nBritain\u2019s Information Commissioner\u2019s Office, meanwhile, said it was investigating the xAI chatbot, following reports that Grok had been used to generate non-consensual sexual imagery of individuals, including children.
\nBritain\u2019s media regulator Ofcom said separately it was setting out the next steps in its investigation into X launched last month, though it provided few details.
\nOfcom is seeking to assess if the company has done enough to mitigate the risk of sexual deepfakes spreading on its social media platform. But it has said it was not investigating xAI, which operates the Grok chatbot, as it falls beyond the scope of current law.
\nThe European Union launched an investigation last week into X too, seeking to assess whether it disseminated illegal content, following a public outcry over the spreading of manipulated sexualized images by Grok.
\nThe chatbot continues to generate sexualized images of people even when users explicitly warn that the subjects do not consent, Reuters has found.
\nxAI put some restrictions on Grok\u2019s image-generation function in response to the backlash last month.
\nProsecutor\u2019s office quitting X
\nThe Paris prosecutor\u2019s cybercrime unit is conducting the investigation in France, together with the French police\u2019s own cybercrime unit and Europol.
\nThe unit previously arrested Telegram founder Pavel Durov in 2024 over charges including complicity in organized crime carried out on the messaging app, charges his lawyer has described as \u201cabsurd\u201d.
\nThe prosecutor\u2019s office said it launched the investigation after being contacted by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms in X were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.
\n\u201cGlad to see that my complaint from January 2025 is yielding results!\u201d that lawmaker, Eric Bothorel, said on X. \u201cIn Europe, and particularly in France, the Rule of Law means that no one is above the law.\u201d
\nThe prosecutor\u2019s office also said it was leaving the X social media platform and would communicate on LinkedIn and Instagram from now on. LinkedIn belongs to Microsoft and Instagram to Meta.
\nMusk calls raid a \u2018political attack\u2019
\nElon Musk described a search conducted by French authorities at the Paris offices of his social media platform X as a \u201cpolitical attack\u201d.
\nMusk remarked in response to a statement from X\u2019s Global Government Affairs, which said the search was carried out \u201cin connection with a politicised criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of algorithms and purported fraudulent data extraction\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are disappointed by this development, but we are not surprised,\u201d the statement said. It added that the Paris Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office is \u201cplainly attempting to exert pressure\u201d on X\u2019s senior management in the United States by \u201ctargeting our French entity and employees, who are not the focus of this investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prosecutors are investigating social media platform over content, AI chatbot Grok, fraudulent data extraction Paris French police raided the offices of Elon Musk\u2019s social media network X on Tuesday and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in a widening investigation, amid growing scrutiny of the platform by authorities across Europe. The raid by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n