X’s Paris HQ raided by French prosecutors

Paris prosecutors announced {that a} search was underway at places of work belong to Elon Musk’s X platform as a part of an ongoing investigation first launched in January 2025. The raid is being performed by Paris and nationwide cybercrime items, with assist from Interpol, based on publish from Paris prosecutors on X. Officers from X have but to touch upon the matter.

On the identical time, Paris prosecutors issued summonses to Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino for “voluntary interviews” on April 20, 2026 in Paris. The prosecutors additionally introduced they might now not use X and would solely talk on LinkedIn and Instagram going ahead.

The searches are a part of an investigation that has been ongoing for almost a yr over the functioning of X’s algorithms which can be “prone to have distorted the operation of an automatic information processing system,” investigators said at the time. These modifications reportedly gave larger prominence to sure political content material (particularly from Musk) with out consumer data — one thing that may very well be a criminal offense below French legal guidelines.

An investigation was officially launched in July, with Paris prosecutors including an extra cost: “Fraudulent extraction of knowledge from an automatic information processing system by an organized group.” Extra lately, it additionally consists of “complicity within the possession of photographs of minors representing a pedo-pornographic character,” attributable to photographs created by Grok between December 25, 2025 and January 1, 2026.

In July, X stated in a press release that the probe “egregiously undermines X’s basic proper to due course of and threatens our customers’ rights to privateness and free speech. [French officials have] accused X of manipulating its algorithm for ‘overseas interference’ functions, an allegation which is totally false.”