The Prosecutor’s Office investigates manipulation of the algorithm and summons Elon Musk to testify

The computer crimes unit of the Paris Prosecutor’s Office registered this Monday the French offices of Xthe social network of Elon Muskas part of an investigation opened in January 2025 for the alleged manipulation of its algorithm to facilitate foreign interference. The raid was carried out in collaboration with the Gendarmerie and Europol.

For a few weeks now, according to the newspaper The Worldthe Paris Prosecutor’s Office also investigates Grok, the artificial intelligence tool from Musk’s social network, for the generation of sexualized images without user consent.

Step prior to imputation

Last week, Brussels launched a new sanctioning file against X for said deepfakes of women and even minors. The formal investigation could lead to a fine of up to 6% of the turnover of Musk’s company if the Community Executive finds a violation of the Digital Services Law, which forces platforms to assume responsibilities for the dissemination of illegal content.

The EU already imposed in December a first sanction of 120 million euros a X for “deceiving” users with their blue verification system. The company has 3 months to pay it and has not yet paid it.

Last July, Musk denied the initial accusations and stated that the French Prosecutor’s Office was launching a “politically motivated criminal investigation.” The billionaire and owner of Tesla has been called to testify through the legal figure of the “free interrogation”which allows one to appear before Justice without being detained and is the step prior to accusation.

Among the criminal charges being investigated, the Prosecutor’s Office has detailed those of complicity in the possession of pedopornographic images of minorsattack against the representation of the person (deepfakes of a sexual nature), fraudulent extraction of data from an organized automated data processing system and the manipulation of algorithms or computer systems.