French Prosecutors Raid X Offices in Paris Cybercrime Probe

French prosecutors raided the offices of social media platform X in Paris on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, as part of an ongoing cybercrime investigation into allegations of algorithmic manipulation and the dissemination of illegal content. The operation, conducted by the Paris prosecutors' cybercrime unit with assistance from the European Union police agency Europol, targets complaints about X's content moderation and its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok.

The probe began in January 2025 following two initial complaints, including one from Eric Bothorel, a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party. Bothorel alleged that changes to X's algorithm under owner Elon Musk's direction reduced the diversity of voices on the platform and amplified certain political content without users' knowledge. Prosecutors described this as potential distortion of an automated data processing system, a charge that could violate French laws on data integrity and foreign interference in politics. The investigation expanded in July 2025 to include accusations of fraudulent data extraction by an organized group.

By late 2025, the scope broadened further after reports surfaced about...