France summons Elon Musk over X investigation
Billionaire Elon Musk has been summoned for a voluntary interview in Paris on Monday as part of a French investigation into his social media platform X, although it is not yet known whether he will attend, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
French authorities first issued a summons for Musk in February as part of a probe launched in January 2025 into allegations that X’s algorithm was used to interfere in French politics.
The investigation was later expanded to include claims involving X’s AI chatbot Grok, particularly its alleged dissemination of Holocaust denial content and sexual deepfakes.
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In early February, French prosecutors searched the Paris offices of X. The company, which has denied any wrongdoing, described the searches as “politicized” raids and an “abusive judicial act.”
At the same time, Paris prosecutors also summoned Musk and then-CEO Linda Yaccarino for voluntary interviews as the “de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events.” Musk described the move as a “political attack.”
Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X in July last year after two years in the role.
In February, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated that X employees were also called to appear between April 20 and 24 “to be heard as witnesses.”
However, the prosecutor’s office said on Saturday that whether or not those summoned attend would not be “an obstacle to the continuation of the investigation.”
Officials have not disclosed the time or location of Musk’s scheduled interview.
The French investigation concerns several suspected criminal offences, including complicity in possessing child sexual abuse material and denial of crimes against humanity.
The company again described the probe in July as “politically motivated.”
The case is part of wider international scrutiny over Grok after reports emerged that users could generate sexualised images of women and children using simple prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes.”
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit watchdog, reported in late January that Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised images in 11 days, including content involving children.
In a separate case, Britain’s data regulator launched an investigation in February into Musk’s X and xAI over concerns regarding compliance with personal data laws related to Grok’s generation of sexualised deepfakes.
In late January, the European Union also opened a probe into X over similar concerns involving Grok-generated sexualised deepfake images of women and minors.
By Nijat Babayev
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