The Paris prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday that it has formally opened a criminal investigation into Elon Musk and his social media platform X, seeking to bring multiple charges against the parties involved. The probe was initiated in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. In February, French authorities raided X's office premises in France, and Musk was subsequently summoned for questioning. Prosecutors accuse X platform of alleged "conspiracy to possess and distribute child sexual abuse material," producing and distributing explicit deepfake content, denying crimes against humanity, and organized manipulation of automated data processing systems, among other unlawful acts.
Additionally, in March, the Paris prosecutor's office alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing indications that the controversy surrounding graphic deepfake content generated by X's AI system, Grok, may have been "deliberately orchestrated" to artificially inflate the market value of both X Corp and xAI, potentially violating criminal law. The investigation also covers X's alleged illegal collection of personal data and other actions that infringe on user rights. French police are currently gathering further evidence to determine the role of the platform's algorithms and content moderation mechanisms in these incidents.
