Paris: French prosecutors searched the offices of Elon Musk’s social media platform X on Tuesday as part of a preliminary investigation into a range of alleged offences, including spreading child sexual abuse images and deepfakes.
The investigation was opened in January last year by the prosecutors’ cybercrime unit, the Paris prosecutors’ office said in a statement. It is looking into alleged “complicity” in possession and spreading of 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.
In addition, prosecutors filed a request for “voluntary interviews” of Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X from 2023 to 2025, scheduled for April 20.
Employees of the platform X have also been summoned that same week in April to be heard as witnesses, the statement said.
A spokesperson for X did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
In a message posted on X, the Paris prosecutors’ office announced the ongoing searches and said it was leaving the platform while calling on followers to join on other social media.