French police raided the offices of Elon Musk's social media network X on Tuesday, and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in April related to a widening investigation into the platform, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

The operation, which involves EU police agency Europol, is part of a year-long investigation into suspected abuse of algorithms for interference in French politics, and fraudulent data extraction by X or its executives.

However, in a statement the Paris Prosecutor's office said it was widening that investigation following complaints over the functioning of X's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok.

The probe will now also investigate alleged complicity in the detention and diffusion of images of a child‑pornographic nature and the violation of a person's image rights with sexually explicit deepfakes, among other potential crimes.

Why did the investigation open?

The investigation was opened following two complaints in January 2025, one coming from Eric Bothorel, an MP from President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party.

Bothorel complained of "reduced diversity of voices and options" and Musk's "personal interventions" in the platform's management since he took it over.

The Paris public prosecutor's office at the time confirmed the investigation, denouncing the alleged biased algorithms which may have "distorted the operation of an automated data processing system."

Why has the investigation now been broadened?

The investigation has been broadened after additional reports criticized the AI chatbot Grok for its role in disseminating Holocaust denials and sexual deepfakes.

The probe will now investigate alleged complicity in the detention and diffusion of images of a child‑pornographic nature and the violation of a person's image rights with sexually explicit deepfakes.

French prosecutors also said they had summoned X owner Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino for a voluntary interview in April as part of the investigation.

"Summons for voluntary interviews on April 20, 2026, in Paris have been sent to Mr. Elon Musk and Ms. Linda Yaccarino, in their capacity as de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events," it said.

Yaccarino resigned as CEO of X in July last year, after two years at the helm of the company.

How has X reacted?  

In January 2025, Laurent Buanec, France director of X, pushed back against the investigation, saying X had "strict, clear and public rules", which protected the platform from hate speech and disinformation.

In July, Musk denied the initial accusations and said French prosecutors were launching a "politically-motivated criminal investigation".

This time, there was no immediate comment from X.

Any other comment from the investigators?

"At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French laws, insofar as it operates on national territory," the prosecutor's office said.

The prosecutor's cybercrime unit is conducting the investigation together with the French police's own cybercrime unit and Europol.

The prosecutor's office also said it was leaving the X social media platform and would communicate on LinkedIn and Instagram from now on. LinkedIn belongs to Microsoft and Instagram to Meta.