The billionaire is being summoned on Monday by the Paris public prosecutor's office as part of an investigation into his social network X and its AI tool Grok, which are suspected of algorithmic manipulation to interfere in the French political debate.
The billionaire owner of the social network X has been summoned on Monday for a “voluntary interview” at the Paris prosecutor’s office, as part of an investigation into his platform. Authorities are examining allegations that X’s algorithm may have been used to influence political discourse in France.
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The investigation has since been extended to include content generated by the Grok chatbot, developed by xAI and integrated into X. The investigations covers posts that allegedly promoted Holocaust denial as well as the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes, including child sexual abuse material.
Linda Yaccarino, who served as CEO of X from May 2023 to July 2025, has also been summoned as part of these proceedings.
"The purpose of these voluntary hearings of executives is to allow them to present their position regarding the facts and, where appropriate, the compliance measures they plan to put in place", the prosecutors said. "At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate aim of ensuring that the network X complies with French law, insofar as it operates on French territory."
In early February, X's Paris offices were searched. The company, which denies any wrongdoing, denounced the operation as "politicised" and an "abusive judicial act".
The Paris public prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, also said that employees of X were summoned as witnesses between 20 and 24 April.
On Saturday, the prosecutor’s office clarified that the failure of those summoned to appear would in no way “hinder the continuation of the investigation.”
Suspicions of manipulation and AI errors
The investigation was launched following reports from an MP and the head of a public cybersecurity body. It concerns the possible manipulation of X's algorithm in order to influence the French public debate, as well as the illicit use of personal data for targeted advertising.
The investigations gained momentum after the dissemination of a message generated by Grok claiming that the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau had been_"designed for disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus"_, a thesis associated with Holocaust denial.
In further publications on X, the chatbot retracted its statements, acknowledging an error and referring to historical evidence establishing that Zyklon B was used to kill more than a million people in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.
According to several reports, Grok also generated and distributed pornographic images of minors and non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes in response to user requests.
Growing international concern
The abuses attributed to Grok are taking place against a backdrop of increased international surveillance.
According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit monitoring organisation, the tool generated around three million sexualised images in eleven days, mainly of women, but also 23,000 appearing to depict children.
In the UK, the data regulator opened an investigation into X and xAI in February, citing "serious concerns" about compliance with personal data laws.
The European Union has also launched an investigation into the production of sexual deepfakes of women and minors.
US justice system refuses to cooperate
In March, the Paris public prosecutor's office alerted the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - the US federal agency responsible for regulating and overseeing financial markets - suggesting "that the controversy surrounding the sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been deliberately orchestrated to artificially inflate the value of companies X and xAI", which could constitute a criminal offence.
According to the French authorities, this strategy could have been implemented ahead of the planned IPO in June 2026 of the new entity resulting from the merger of SpaceX and xAI, at a time when X was losing momentum.
However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the US Department of Justice has indicated that it does not wish to cooperate with the French authorities, accusing the investigation of constituting an attempt to interfere in an American company protected by the First Amendment.
New complaint from Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also filed a new complaint against X with the cybercrime unit of the Paris public prosecutor's office. It "targets the platform's policies that allow disinformation to spread", said RSF, accusing the American billionaire's company of repeated violations of the public's right to reliable information.
"Disinformation campaigns flood X, some of which have accumulated several hundred thousand views. Although the teams at Elon Musk's platform are perfectly aware of the situation, this has not prevented them from responding to RSF's repeated reports by automatically refusing to remove the content concerned," RSF said. "This is a deliberate policy implemented by X, incompatible with the public's right to reliable information."
