French authorities conducted a raid on X’s Paris headquarters as part of a cybercrime investigation launched in January 2025, targeting the social media platform over allegations ranging from child sexual abuse material distribution to algorithm manipulation.
The cybercrime division of the Paris prosecutor’s office led the operation on Tuesday, with support from Europol and the French police’s cybercrime team. The search of X’s offices in the 2nd arrondissement district is part of a preliminary investigation into multiple alleged offenses.
Investigation Origins and Expansion
The investigation was initially sparked after a center-right French lawmaker, Éric Bothorel, filed a complaint in January 2025 alleging that biased algorithms on the platform distorted its data processing system. The complaint expanded into a broader inquiry after X’s AI chatbot Grok generated Holocaust denial content and sexually explicit deepfake images, sparking global outrage.
The prosecutors’ investigation now covers alleged complicity in possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material, creating and spreading nonconsensual sexual deepfakes, denying crimes against humanity, and manipulating automated data processing systems as part of an organized group.
One particularly damaging finding revealed that between June and October 2025, X’s submissions to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding child sexual abuse material in France fell by 81.4%, coinciding with changes to the platform’s detection tools.
Musk and Yaccarino Summoned for Questioning
Billionaire owner Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino have been summoned for voluntary interviews scheduled for April 20, 2026. Yaccarino served as CEO from May 2023 until July 2025. Prosecutors are questioning both in their capacity as “de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events.”
Multiple X employees have also been summoned as witnesses for the same week.
Broader International Scrutiny
The raid is one of several enforcement actions targeting X globally. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office opened a formal investigation into how X and xAI handled personal data when developing Grok, while the UK media regulator Ofcom is conducting a separate probe that could take months. Additionally, the European Commission opened an investigation after Grok generated nonconsensual sexual deepfake images.
French Authorities Exit the Platform
In response to the investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced it would cease posting on X and migrate its communications to LinkedIn and Instagram.
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