French authorities have carried out a court-authorised search at the Paris offices of Elon Musk-owned social media platform X as part of a wide-ranging criminal investigation first opened in January 2025.
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the operation conducted on Tuesday, February 3, was led by the prosecutor’s cybercrime unit, with support from the European Union’s police agency, Europol.
Investigators are seeking evidence of suspected criminal misuse of the platform’s automated systems and of content moderation failures.
The prosecutor’s office said it would leave X as a communication platform due to compliance concerns and encouraged followers to connect via other social media channels instead.
“A search is being carried out at the French premises of X by the cybercrime unit of the Paris public prosecutor’s office, together with @Unité nationale cyber and @Europol, as part of the investigation opened in January 2025. The Paris public prosecutor’s office is leaving X.”
Both X chairman Elon Musk and the platform’s former chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, have been requested to attend hearings scheduled for April, while several X employees are expected to be questioned as witnesses.
Inquiry expanded
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the inquiry, which initially examined alleged manipulation of algorithms, has since expanded to include “Grok’s sexualized deepfakes.”
The probe began after formal complaints from a French lawmaker and a senior civil servant, who alleged that X’s algorithms were being used to distort public discourse and interfere with French political processes.
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Investigators were initially focused on whether the platform’s automated data processing systems reduced diversity of views or unfairly amplified certain content.
As the investigation progressed, prosecutors began examining possible organised manipulation of data systems, alleged fraudulent extraction of data, and the spread of illegal content — including Holocaust denial material and sexually explicit deepfakes — generated or amplified by X’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Holocaust denial is a criminal offence under French law.
Scrutiny of Grok intensified late last year after criticism that the chatbot could generate sexually explicit images on request.
Concerns peaked when it emerged that users were able to prompt the system to create digitally altered images depicting women and minors. X later disabled Grok’s ability to generate images of people in revealing clothing.
Last week, the European Commission also opened a separate investigation into Grok under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, focusing on whether X adequately assessed and mitigated the risks associated with deploying the chatbot in the European Union.
Also, the Commission is examining potential failures to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material, antisemitic content, and manipulated sexual imagery.
X fined by European Union
The regulatory pressure follows a landmark enforcement action in December 2025, when the EU fined X €120 million for breaches of the Digital Services Act.
The violations included the misleading design of the paid verification system, failures in the platform’s advertising transparency tools, and restrictions on independent researchers’ access to public data needed to assess systemic risks.
In January 2026, EU regulators escalated scrutiny further by launching a dedicated probe into Grok’s image-generation capabilities and extending an existing investigation into X’s recommender systems, particularly after the platform introduced a Grok-based recommendation algorithm.
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Regulators are assessing whether the changes increased the amplification of harmful or illegal content. During Tuesday’s raid, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced the searches publicly and confirmed that Europol was assisting French authorities.
Europol spokesperson Jan Op Gen Oorth said the agency “is supporting the French authorities in this,” without providing additional details.
“At this stage, the conduct of the investigation is based on a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French law, as it operates on the national territory,” the prosecutors said.
X has consistently rejected the allegations, characterising both the criminal investigation and EU regulatory actions as politically motivated and an attack on free speech. The company has not yet commented publicly on the Paris office search.
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