Police raid Elon Musk’s X office in Paris – Tech Digest

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French police have raided the Paris offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.

The search, conducted on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, marks a major escalation in a long-running criminal investigation into the platform’s operations and its controversial AI chatbot, Grok.

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that its specialized cybercrime unit led the raid with assistance from Europol. Authorities are investigating a wide range of allegations, including the distribution of child sexual abuse material, the dissemination of Holocaust-denial content and the proliferation of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes generated by the Grok AI.

The investigation was significantly widened last month following a study that estimated Grok may have generated up to three million sexualized images in just 11 days.

This included tens of thousands of images depicting minors. Prosecutors stated the raid is part of an effort to ensure that X complies with French law while operating within the country.

In addition to the physical search, the prosecutor’s office has summoned Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino for “voluntary interviews” on April 20. The probe also examines suspicions of “organized tampering” with automated data systems and the potential use of biased algorithms for foreign interference – a concern first raised by French lawmakers a year ago.

The raid comes at a time of peak tension between Musk and European regulators. While X has previously characterized French investigations as an attack on free speech, the European Commission has launched its own probe under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

In a symbolic move following the raid, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it would no longer communicate via X. The office stated it would move its official digital communications to LinkedIn and Instagram, signalling a complete breakdown in relations with the platform.

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