Elon Musk, the American entrepreneur, has been summoned by French prosecutors to appear in Paris on the 20th to be questioned regarding alleged misconduct on his social media platform X. The issues under investigation include the dissemination of child sexual abuse material and the proliferation of deepfake content on the platform.

The Paris prosecutor's office stated that both Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino have been summoned for voluntary questioning. Some employees of the platform are also scheduled to be questioned as witnesses this week. It is currently unclear whether Musk and Yaccarino will travel to Paris.

This summons stems from an investigation initiated in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor's office. Investigators searched X's offices in France this past February.

The investigation was launched after a French lawmaker accused X's algorithm of bias, potentially distorting the operation of automated data processing systems. The scope of the investigation was later expanded after "Grok," a chatbot developed by Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI and integrated into the X platform, allegedly generated content denying the Holocaust. "Grok" has also been accused of spreading deepfake pornography.

The charges under investigation by prosecutors include X's alleged possession and dissemination of child sexual abuse material and deepfake pornography, denial of crimes against humanity, and manipulation of automated data processing systems.

French prosecutors also suspect that the issues with "Grok" may have been artificially orchestrated to inflate the value of X and xAI, which could constitute a criminal offense. In March, French authorities notified the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice declined to assist the French investigation, stating that the French were misusing their legal system to interfere with the operations of a U.S. company.