French offices of Elon Musk’s X platform raided by Paris cybercrime unit

By Saskya Vandoorne, Sana Noor Haq, CNN

Paris (CNN) — French police raided the Paris offices of Elon Musk’s X Tuesday and summoned the tech billionaire for questioning as part of a widening probe into the social media company and its AI chatbot Grok.

The search was linked to an investigation France opened in January 2025, the prosecutor’s office said Tuesday, adding that its cybercrime unit conducted the raid with help from Europol.

Both X chairman Musk and former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino have been summoned to appear at hearings in April, while X employees will be questioned as witnesses, according to the Paris prosecutor.

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the investigation, which initially focused on suspected abuse of algorithms, had been broadened to include Grok’s “sexual deepfakes” and the circulation of “Holocaust denial content.”

“The allegations underlying today’s raid are baseless and X categorically denies any wrongdoing,” X’s Global Government Affairs Team posted in a statement on the social platform Tuesday afternoon, adding that it is “committed to defending its fundamental rights and the rights of its users.”

The company also said it is “disappointed by this development” and called the raid “an abusive act of law enforcement theater.”

X did not respond to CNN’s earlier request for comment. The company has previously denied any wrongdoing and in July called the French investigation “politically motivated” and an attack on free speech.

Last week the European Commission launched a probe into Grok following criticism of its ability to produce sexually explicit images. Scrutiny of that function came to a head late last year, when it emerged the chatbot had produced a flood of digitally undressed images – including of women and children – at the behest of users.

Prosecutors in the French capital said they would examine a raft of potential crimes, including complicity in the possession and dissemination of child pornographic images and the breach of a person’s image rights with sexually explicit deepfakes.

‘Dangerous consequences’

Policymakers around the world have struggled to keep pace with rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technologies and a gulf has emerged between Europe and the US on the regulation of big tech and free speech.

In mid-January X announced new restrictions on Grok image generation, saying the chatbot could no longer undress images of real people. But as of January 20, it could still be used to generate sexualized images of individuals, according to the European non-profit, AI Forensics.

Internet safety campaigners are demanding more safeguards for marginalized people online, warning of long-term mental health and wellbeing impacts on survivors.

“The disturbing rise in AI intimate image abuse, facilitated by platforms such as Grok, is not just a digital threat – it has dangerous consequences women and girls,” said Emma Pickering at UK non-profit Refuge.

“Generative AI has made it easier than ever for perpetrators to create fake images at the expense of women’s safety,” she added in a statement last month.

Earlier on Tuesday, the UK’s information regulator opened an investigation into Grok and its potential to produce harmful sexualized images and video content.

Indonesian and Malaysian authorities blocked Grok in late January but lifted the ban days later, citing measures taken by X to prevent the misuse of the chatbot.

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