Paris Prosecutors Probe Musk, X Over Child Imagery, Deepfakes

Paris prosecutors have opened a judicial investigation into Elon Musk, his social media platform X, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino and related companies including X Corp, xAI and X.AI Holdings Corp over allegations of child sexual abuse imagery, nonconsensual deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and unlawful data practices.

The Paris public prosecutor's office announced the move this week, requesting that investigating judges place the individuals and entities under formal investigation. This step follows Musk's and Yaccarino's failure to appear for voluntary interviews summoned on April 20. Prosecutors stated they would summon the parties again or, if they do not comply, issue warrants equivalent to an indictment. The office emphasized the procedure aims to uphold the law and protect victims of online and real-life offenses.

The probe, initially opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit after a French lawmaker reported biased algorithms distorting X's automated data systems, expanded following incidents involving Grok, an AI chatbot developed by xAI and accessible via X. Authorities conducted a search of X's French premises in February 2025 and summoned Musk and...