PARIS — French prosecutors raided the places of work of social media platform X on Tuesday as a part of a preliminary investigation into allegations together with spreading little one sexual abuse pictures and deepfakes. They’ve additionally summoned billionaire proprietor Elon Musk for questioning.
X and Musk’s synthetic intelligence firm xAI additionally face intensifying scrutiny from Britain’s knowledge privateness regulator, which opened formal investigations into how they dealt with private knowledge after they developed and deployed Musk’s synthetic intelligence chatbot Grok.
Grok, which was constructed by xAI and is out there by way of X, sparked world outrage final month after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized nonconsensual deepfake pictures in response to requests from X customers.
The French investigation was opened in January final yr by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors’ workplace stated in a press release. It is wanting into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading pornographic pictures of minors, sexually specific deepfakes, denial of crimes towards humanity and manipulation of an automatic knowledge processing system as a part of an organized group, amongst different expenses.
Prosecutors requested Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino to attend “voluntary interviews” on April 20. Workers of X have additionally been summoned that very same week to be heard as witnesses, the assertion stated. Yaccarino was CEO from Might 2023 till July 2025.
A spokesperson for X didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. X’s lawyer in France, Kami Haeri, instructed The Related Press: ″We do not make any remark at this stage.”
In a message posted on X, the Paris prosecutors’ workplace introduced the continuing searches on the firm’s places of work in France and stated it was leaving the platform whereas calling on followers to hitch it on different social media.
“At this stage, the conduct of the investigation relies on a constructive method, with the purpose of finally guaranteeing that the X platform complies with French legislation, because it operates on the nationwide territory,” the prosecutors’ assertion stated.
European Union police company Europol “is supporting the French authorities on this,” Europol spokesperson Jan Op Gen Oorth instructed the AP, with out elaborating.
French authorities opened their investigation after studies from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X doubtless distorted the functioning of an automatic knowledge processing system.
It expanded after Grok generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, against the law in France, and unfold sexually specific deepfakes, the assertion stated.
Grok wrote in a broadly shared put up in French that fuel chambers on the Auschwitz-Birkenau demise camp had been designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B towards typhus” quite than for mass homicide — language lengthy related to Holocaust denial.
In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was unsuitable, saying it had been deleted and pointed to historic proof that Zyklon B was used to kill greater than 1 million folks in Auschwitz fuel chambers.
The chatbot additionally appeared to reward Adolf Hitler final yr, in feedback that X took down after complaints.
In Britain, the Data Commissioner’s Workplace stated it’s wanting into whether or not X and xAI adopted the legislation when processing private knowledge and whether or not Grok had any measures in place to stop its use to generate “dangerous manipulated pictures.”
“The studies about Grok increase deeply troubling questions on how folks’s private knowledge has been used to generate intimate or sexualised pictures with out their data or consent, and whether or not the required safeguards had been put in place to stop this,” stated William Malcolm, an government director on the watchdog.
He didn’t specify what the penalty could be if the probe discovered the businesses did not adjust to knowledge safety legal guidelines.
A separate investigation into Grok launched final month by the U.Okay. media regulator, Ofcom, is ongoing.
Ofcom stated Tuesday it is nonetheless gathering proof and warned the probe might take months.
X has additionally been beneath strain from the EU. The 27-nation bloc’s government arm opened an investigation final month after Grok spewed nonconsensual sexualized deepfake pictures on the platform.
Brussels has already hit X with a 120-million euro (then-$140 million) advantageous for shortcomings beneath the bloc’s sweeping digital laws, together with blue checkmarks that broke the foundations on “misleading design practices” that risked exposing customers to scams and manipulation.
On Monday, Musk ’s house exploration and rocket enterprise, SpaceX, introduced that it acquired xAI in a deal that can even mix Grok, X and his satellite tv for pc communication firm Starlink.
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Related Press writers Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Lyon, France, Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Sylvia Hui and Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.
