French police search X’s office in Paris, and summon Elon Musk for questioning

The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday that French police and Europol had searched X’s local office.

The raid is part of an ongoing investigation that began in 2025 into allegations of “fraudulent data extraction” of an automated data processing system “by an organized group.”

The French prosecutor’s cybercrime unit said the investigation has now been expanded to include other alleged crimes, including complicity in the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, privacy violations, and Holocaust denial.

The expansion of the investigation comes as X and its owner Elon Musk face widespread criticism for allowing its Grok AI to be used to create non-consensual images, including images of child abuse, of other people on its platform.

Musk, who bought X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino were summoned for questioning on April 20. Unnamed X employees were also summoned for the same week, according to the prosecutor’s announcement.

When contacted by an X spokesperson for comment, Rosemary Esposito pointed to a statement posted on X’s global government affairs account, in which the company said “the allegations behind today’s raid are baseless and X categorically denies any wrongdoing.”

A spokesperson for eMed, where Yaccarino now serves as CEO, did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

When reached for comment, Myles de Roque, a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, confirmed the raid in a statement: “The goal of the prosecutor’s office is ultimately to ensure that Platform X complies with French law, given that it operates within the national territory.”

This story has been updated to include X’s statement.