The French offices of Elon Musk's X have been raided by the Paris prosecutor's cyber-crime unit, as part of an investigation into suspected offences including unlawful data extraction and complicity in the possession of child pornography.
The prosecutor's office also said both Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino had been summoned to appear at hearings in April.
In a separate development, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced a probe into Musk's AI tool, Grok, over its potential to produce harmful sexualised image and video content. X is yet to respond to either investigation - the BBC has approached it for comment.
Following the raid, French prosecutors have expanded their investigation to examine whether X has violated laws relating to several serious allegations. These include complicity in the possession or organized distribution of pornographic images of minors, infringement of people's image rights with sexual deepfakes, and fraud related to data extraction.
The incident marks a significant escalation in scrutiny toward Musk's operations. The enquiry into X initially began in January 2025 focusing on content recommended by X's algorithm and evolved to include Grok by July of the same year.
Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, criticized the French authorities, accusing them of criminal persecution against social networks that provide freedom to users. He emphasized the sentiment in a post on X wherein he described France as not a free country. Durov himself faced legal issues in France over moderation lapses on his platform.
Meanwhile, UK authorities express urgency regarding their investigation into sexual deepfakes generated by Grok, underscoring deep concerns regarding personal data safeguards and consent. The ICO, in conjunction with Ofcom, is continuing this investigation while also acknowledging limitations in handling illegal images produced by chatbots.
As investigations unfold in both countries, questions regarding user data security and ethical implications of AI technologies like Grok will remain at the forefront of discussions in the tech community.
