French police raided X offices in Paris on Tuesday as part of an investigation into the company’s use of algorithms and its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok.
The search was carried out by the Paris public prosecutor’s cybercrime unit, which then summoned Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino to give evidence on April 20, according to to Reuters.
French prosecutors had opened the probe in 2025 following a complaint by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on the platform were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.
Authorities are now examining suspected algorithm abuse and fraudulent data extraction by X or the platform’s executives, prosecutors said.
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The investigation has also broadened to include Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s company xAI and integrated into the platform, Reuters said.
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Britain’s privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, also said on Tuesday in a statement it had launched a formal investigation into Grok over the processing of personal data and reports that the chatbot had been used to generate nonconsensual sexual imagery, including of children.
X went on to criticize the French authorities’ actions, accusing prosecutors of bypassing international legal mechanisms.
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The company said in a statement on X that the Paris Public Prosecutor’s office was “plainly attempting to exert pressure on X’s senior management in the United States by targeting our French entity and employees, who are not the focus of this investigation.”
X added that prosecutors had ignored established procedures to obtain evidence “in compliance with international treaties” and the company’s right to defend itself.
Referring to the raid, Musk said in a post on X: “This is a political attack.”
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In a separate statement, Europol said it was supporting the French investigation with the assistance of the French Gendarmerie’s cybercrime unit.
“The investigation concerns a range of suspected criminal offences linked to the functioning and use of the platform, including the dissemination of illegal content and other forms of online criminal activity. Europol stands ready to continue supporting the French authorities as the investigation progresses,” it said.
The Paris prosecutor’s office also said it would stop communicating on X, Reuters reported.
FOX Business has reached out to X for comment.
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