Police raid X offices over Grok explicit sexual images, invite billionaire owner Elon Musk to report

3.2.2026
French police raided the offices of Elon Musk’s social media network X on Tuesday and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in April in a widening investigation, amid growing scrutiny of the platform by authorities across Europe.
France’s raid and the summoning of Musk – which could further increase tensions between Europe and the U.S. over big tech and free speech – are linked to a year-long investigation into suspected abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction by X or its executives.
Britain’s privacy watchdog, meanwhile, also kicked off a formal investigation into Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok over the processing of personal data and its potential to produce harmful sexualised images and video content.
In a statement the Paris prosecutor’s office said it had broadened the scope of its investigation following complaints over the functioning of Grok.
The French probe will now also investigate alleged complicity in the “detention and diffusion” of images of a child‑pornographic nature and the violation of a person’s image rights with sexually explicit deepfakes, among other potential crimes.
Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino were summoned to a hearing on April 20. Other X staff were also summoned as witnesses.
There was no immediate comment from X. In July, Musk denied the initial accusations and said French prosecutors were launching a “politically-motivated criminal investigation”.
“At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French laws, insofar as it operates on national territory,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Such summons are mandatory, though they are harder to enforce on people who do not live in France.
After such a hearing, authorities can decide to either shelve or continue the probe, and potentially put suspects in custody.
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office, meanwhile, said it was investigating the xAI chatbot, following reports that Grok had been used to generate non‑consensual sexual imagery of individuals, including children. Reuters