French headquarters of Elon Musk’s X raided by Paris cybercrime unit | X
Prosecutors raided the French headquarters of Elon Musk’s social media platform X and summoned the tech billionaire and the company’s former CEO for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged cybercrimes.
“A search is ongoing by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office, the national police cyber unit and Europol,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Stream Tuesday on XHe added that it would no longer air on the network.
In the statement, it was stated that Musk and Linda Yaccarino were summoned for “voluntary interrogation” in April as “the actual and legal managers of the X platform at the time of the events.” Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X in July of last year.
The announcement by French prosecutors comes at a time when European attitudes towards social media companies are hardening. A senior source in the Greek government told Reuters on Tuesday that the country was “very close” to announcing a social media ban on children under 15.
In Spain, where the government has prepared a series of measures including a social media ban on those under 16, prime minister Pedro Sánchez promised to protect children from the “digital wild west” and hold tech companies responsible for hateful and harmful content.
Sánchez said on Tuesday that urgent action was needed because social media was “a failed situation where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated.”
The Spanish prime minister also accused Musk of using the
The comments appeared to infuriate Musk, who later on Tuesday used a post on X to call Sánchez a “traitor to the people of Spain.”
The Paris raid is part of an investigation launched in January last year into suspected misuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction; The prosecutor’s office said it expanded the investigation to include complaints about X’s artificial intelligence tool Grok.
It was stated that the alleged crimes it is investigating include complicity in the possession and organized distribution of child abuse images, violation of image rights through sexual deepfakes, and denial of crimes against humanity.
Other possible charges include the fraudulent extraction and operation of an automated data processing system by an organized group and the operation of an illegal online platform by an organized group, the statement said.
French authorities launched the investigation after centre-right MP Éric Bothorel filed a complaint alleging that biased algorithms on the platform were possibly corrupting its data processing system and affecting the type of content it recommended.
Bothorel complained about the “declining diversity of voices” since acquiring X in 2022 and Musk’s “personal interventions” in X’s management. Another complaint said the changes had led to an increase in “nauseating political content.”
Prosecutors said in November they were expanding the investigation to include the conduct of Grok, who was allegedly involved in Holocaust denial by pushing false claims widely made by those who denied that Nazi Germany killed 6 million Jews.
The chatbot has since caused outrage by allowing users to “undress” clothed individuals, including children, in photos through AI image creation and editing. The EU launched an investigation into the production and distribution of deepfake videos with sexual content against women and minors.
X has been approached for comment on Tuesday’s raid. company he said last summer He did not intend to comply with the demands of French prosecutors, which he described as “politically motivated”, and denied all allegations against him.
X said he believed the investigation “distorted French law to serve a political agenda and ultimately restricted freedom of expression.” It said it was determined to “defend fundamental rights, protect user data, and resist political censorship.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that the investigation was being carried out “as part of a constructive approach with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French law as long as it operates on national territory.”
Although described as voluntary, the subpoenas issued to Musk and Yaccarino are mandatory, but they are difficult to apply to people outside France. Authorities can then potentially detain suspects.
Europol said it was supporting the investigation through the European cybercrime center and deployed an expert to Paris for the raid. “The investigation concerns a number of suspected crimes linked to the operation and use of the platform,” the statement said.
These include “the dissemination of illegal content and other forms of online criminal activity,” the pan-European police force said, adding that it “stands ready to continue supporting the French authorities as the investigation progresses.”
