French authorities summon Elon Musk over probe into X as Paris office is searched
Paris, France — French authorities have requested Elon Musk to appear to answer questions as part of a probe into his social media platform X, the Paris prosecutor’s office stated on Monday, as authorities conducted a search of X’s office in the French capital.
"Summons for voluntary interviews on April 20, 2026, in Paris have been sent to Mr. Elon Musk and Ms. Linda Yaccarino, in their capacity as de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events," the Paris prosecutor’s office announced in a statement.
French cybercrime authorities were carrying out a search, at the same time, at X’s offices in Paris, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The summonses for Musk and Yaccarino, as well as the search at the X office, were related to an investigation initiated in January 2025 based on complaints about how X’s algorithm recommends content to users and gathers data, the prosecutor’s office explained. Officials have previously expressed concern that the functioning of X could constitute political interference.
The investigation aims to ensure that X complies with French laws, with the prosecutor adding that it was expanded last year following reports that X allowed users to share nonconsensual, AI-generated sexually explicit imagery, and holocaust denial content.
X and Musk have dismissed the French investigation, along with similar probes by European Union and British authorities, as unfounded, politically motivated attacks on free speech.
Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X in July last year after leading the company for two years.
The investigation is being spearheaded by the cybercrime unit of the prosecutor’s office, in collaboration with French police and the joint European policing agency Europol.
A CBS News investigation found late last month that the Grok AI tool on Musk’s X platform still permitted users in the U.S., U.K. and EU to digitally undress people without their consent, despite the company’s public pledges to halt this function.
The Grok chatbot, available both via its standalone app and for premium X account holders using the platform, enabled individuals to use artificial intelligence to edit images of real people, showing them in revealing clothing such as bikinis.
A request for comment on the findings from CBS News’ investigation was met with an apparent auto-reply from Musk’s company xAI, which simply stated: "Legacy media lies."
Scrutiny of the Grok feature has increased swiftly in recent months, with the British government warning X could face a U.K.-wide ban if it does not block the "bikini-fy" tool, and EU regulators initiating their own investigation into the Grok AI editing function in late January.
CBS News found Grok was still enabling users to digitally undress individuals in photos weeks after X stated, earlier in January, that it had "implemented technological measures to prevent the [@]Grok account on X globally from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers."
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