French prosecutors have summoned Elon Musk to Paris for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged misconduct on the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and AI-generated deepfake content.
Musk and Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X (formerly Twitter), have been invited for ‘voluntary interviews’, while other company employees are expected to testify as witnesses throughout the week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. It remains unclear whether either will attend. Representatives for X did not respond to requests for comment, and Yaccarino’s current company, eMed, also declined to comment.
Prosecutors are additionally examining whether the controversy surrounding the platform’s AI system, Grok, was intentionally amplified to boost the valuation of Musk-linked companies ahead of a planned market listing. French authorities have alerted U.S. officials, though Musk reacted on X by criticising the probe, writing, “This needs to stop.”
The summons follows a February search of X’s French offices as part of a broader investigation launched in January 2025 by the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit. Musk and Yaccarino are being questioned in their roles as company executives during the period under scrutiny. Yaccarino served as CEO from May 2023 to July 2025.
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Prosecutors said the voluntary interviews are intended to allow executives to present their positions and outline any compliance measures. They emphasised the investigation aims to ensure X adheres to French law while operating in the country. Authorities added that any absence from the interviews would not halt the inquiry.
The probe began after complaints from a French lawmaker alleging that X’s algorithms may have distorted automated data processing. It later expanded following incidents involving Grok, developed by xAI, which allegedly generated Holocaust-denying content and explicit deepfake images.
Investigators are examining potential complicity in distributing child sexual abuse material, producing and sharing non-consensual deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity, and manipulation of automated systems as part of an organised effort.
Grok drew global backlash earlier this year after producing explicit deepfake images in response to user prompts. In another widely circulated post, it incorrectly suggested that gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were intended for disinfection rather than mass murder — a claim associated with Holocaust denial. The chatbot later retracted the statement, acknowledging historical evidence that more than one million people were killed using Zyklon B in the camp.
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