French investigators raided X’s Paris headquarters on Tuesday as part of an expanded criminal probe involving seven alleged offenses including spreading Holocaust denial content and involvement in distributing child pornography.
The investigation comes amid a broader effort by European governments to curb the spread of unlawful content — including child abuse imagery — on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
French authorities initiated the investigation more than a year ago, focused initially on X’s algorithm and handling of data. In the months since, authorities said, they expanded the scope of the probe following reports that Grok, X’s AI tool, was disseminating sexually explicit deepfakes and Holocaust denial content.
In a statement Tuesday, Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said her office was conducting the search alongside Europol and French law enforcement specializing in cybercrime. Authorities also summoned current and former X employees, including owner Elon Musk and former chief executive Linda Yaccarino, to attend voluntary interviews in Paris in April, she said.
“At this stage, the investigation is being conducted in a constructive manner with the objective of ensuring X’s compliance with French laws insofar as it operates on national territory,” the statement said. It added that investigators wanted to give Musk and other employees the opportunity to explain their position.
No charges have yet been brought. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.
In France, it is a criminal offense to deny the historical existence of the Holocaust, with those convicted facing up to one year’s imprisonment and potential fines of up to around $50,000.
The probe is the latest in a swirl of investigations initiated by European countries and the European Union into X, many focused on the dissemination of abuse imagery.
Last month, Britain’s communications regulator, Ofcom, announced a formal investigation following reports that Grok was “being used to create and share undressed images of people — which may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography — and sexualised images of children that may amount to child sexual abuse material.”
And last week, the European Commission announced a separate investigation into X to assess whether the platform’s deployment of Grok in Europe had breached European law. The investigation also relates to the dissemination of sexually explicit images.
In response to outrage from governments and regulators, Musk said last month that X had stopped Grok from generating sexualized images of people without their consent “in those jurisdictions where it’s illegal.”
A Washington Post investigation found that Musk’s AI start-up, xAI, allegedly embraced and rolled back guardrails on sexualized material, ignoring warnings about potential legal and ethical risks.
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