French prosecutors summon Elon Musk over allegations of child abuse
images and deepfakes on X
[April 20, 2026] By
SAMUEL PETREQUIN
PARIS (AP) — Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris on Monday, where
investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the
social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse
material and deepfake content.
The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino — the former CEO of X — have
been summoned for “voluntary interviews," while other employees of the
platform are scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout this week,
the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
It remains unclear whether Musk and Yaccarino will travel to Paris. A
spokesperson for X did not respond to questions from The Associated
Press and Yaccarino’s current company, eMed, did not answer a request
sent to the press email.
French prosecutors also suspect that controversy around the platform’s
AI system Grok's deepfakes was concocted to boost the value of
Musk-owned companies ahead of a key market listing, and alerted U.S.
authorities. Musk welcomed a report that U.S. justice officials refused
to help French investigators, posting on X, “This needs to stop.”
The reason for summoning Musk
Musk was summoned after a search took place in February at the French
premises of X as part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the
cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino
have been invited in their capacities as managers of X at the time of
the events investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July
2025.
“These voluntary interviews with the executives are intended to allow
them to present their position regarding the facts and, where
appropriate, the compliance measures they plan to implement,”
prosecutors said. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is
part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring
that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within
the national territory.”
Asked whether Musk would risk sanctions if he skipped the hearing, the
Paris prosecutor's office declined to comment.
What is being investigated
French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a
French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted
the functioning of an automated data processing system. It expanded
after the AI system, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the
Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes.
It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading
pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of
crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing
system as part of an organized group, among other charges.
Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global
outrage this year after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized
nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.
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 Grok also wrote in a widely shared
post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death
camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus”
rather than for mass murder — language long associated with
Holocaust denial.
In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged
that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted, and
pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more
than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.
French prosecutors alert U.S. authorities
In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the U.S. Department
of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the
U.S. federal agency responsible for regulating and overseeing
financial markets — suggesting "that the controversy surrounding
sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been
deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the value of the
companies X and xAI — potentially constituting criminal offenses,"
prosecutors said.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said this could have been done "ahead
of the planned June 2026 stock market listing of the new entity
formed by the merger of Space X and xAI, at a time when company X
was clearly losing momentum.”
Justice Department brushes off French call
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department told
French law enforcement authorities it wouldn’t facilitate their
efforts to investigate Musk’s X. The newspaper reported that the
Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, in a two-page
letter last week, accused the French of inappropriately using its
justice system to interfere with an American business.
The letter also said France’s requests for U.S. assistance
“constitute an effort to entangle the United States in a politically
charged criminal proceeding aimed at wrongfully regulating through
prosecution the business activities of a social media platform.”
French judicial authorities didn’t respond to requests for comments.
Reporters Without Borders' lawsuit
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it has lodged a new
complaint against X with the cybercrime unit of the Paris
prosecutor’s office targeting "the platform’s policies that allow
disinformation to flourish.''
“Disinformation campaigns are flooding X, some of which have
accumulated several hundred thousand views. Although the staff at
Elon Musk’s platform are well aware of the situation, this has not
stopped them from responding to RSF’s repeated alerts with automated
refusals to remove the content in question," RSF said. “This is a
deliberate policy instated by X, and it is incompatible with the
public’s right to reliable information.”
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