The social network X (formerly Twitter) logo appears on a smartphone screen in this illustration photo. (Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
French prosecutors on Tuesday raided the Paris offices of the social media platform X, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk.
Here’s what to know about their search and the investigation:
Paris X office raided
Big picture view:
Paris authorities searched the office of Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
Dig deeper:
The investigation was opened in January last year by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors' office said in a statement.
It's looking into alleged "complicity" in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.
By the details:
The investigation was first opened following reports by a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X were likely to have distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system.
It was later expanded after Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust and spread sexually explicit deepfakes, the statement said. Holocaust denial is a crime in France.
READ MORE: Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok makes antisemitic posts on X
What's next:
Prosecutors also asked Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino to attend "voluntary interviews" on April 20.
Employees of X have also been summoned that same week to be heard as witnesses, the statement said.
Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.
READ MORE: X CEO, Linda Yaccarino, steps down from social media platform
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Linda Yaccarino steps down as CEO of X
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of Elon Musk?s X, is stepping down after two years at the company. Techstrong Group's Jon Swartz joins LiveNOW's Andrew Craft to break it down.
Meanwhile:
X is also under pressure from the European Union. The 27-nation bloc's executive arm opened an investigation last month after Grok spewed nonconsensual sexualized deepfake images on the platform.
The Source: Information in this article was taken from a statement made by Paris prosecutors, as obtained by and reported on by The Associated Press. Background information was also taken from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Detroit.