French Prosecutors Schedule Voluntary Interview with Elon Musk in X Content Moderation Probe

Elon Musk faces a voluntary interview in Paris on April 20, 2026, as French prosecutors investigate X's algorithms and the Grok chatbot's dissemination of Holocaust denial content and sexually explicit deepfakes. The Paris prosecutor's office scheduled the interview following a February 2026 raid on X's French headquarters by a police cybercrime unit in partnership with Europol.

Hearings with other X employees in France are set for the week after Musk's scheduled appearance.

Paris prosecutors opened the investigation on January 12, 2025, after receiving two complaints, including one from French lawmaker Éric Bothorel, over allegedly biased algorithms influencing automated data processing systems. The probe, assigned to police on July 9, 2025, expanded in November 2025 to include charges of complicity in possession and distribution of child-pornography images and denial of crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors added a charge in January 2026 related to distributing sexual material using a person's image without consent, following the publication of deepfakes generated by Grok.

Sexualized images proliferated on X from late December 2025 to early January 2026 after the introduction of a new editing function. X responded to backlash by restricting Grok from editing images of real people to depict them undressed or in revealing clothes. S.

4% between June and October 2025. Authorities allege Grok enabled creation of sexualized images, including of minors and victims of the Crans-Montana fire, as well as hate speech glorifying crimes against humanity. Experts consulted by prosecutors maintain that safeguards could have prevented this content.

The Paris prosecutor's office announced in early February 2026 that it had summoned Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who stepped down in July 2025, for the April 20 interviews. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated the voluntary interviews aim to allow Musk and Yaccarino to explain their positions on the facts and compliance measures, conducted in a constructive manner to enable X to comply with French law.

Over the weekend before April 20, the prosecutor's office said absences by Musk and Yaccarino would not impede the investigation.

Musk denied initial accusations in July 2025, stating the probe was politically motivated. X posted in February 2026 that the investigation was politically motivated. Yaccarino, in a post on X, accused French prosecutors of carrying out a political vendetta against Americans.

U.S. Justice Department declined to assist French law enforcement, stating in a letter that the investigation seeks to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate a public square for free expression contrary to the First Amendment. Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, posted support for Musk on X on April 20, 2026.

"I’m under a similar investigation in France: over a dozen charges, each carrying up to 10 years in prison. Proud to stand alongside Elon Musk and others targeted by Macron’s campaign against digital rights. In Macron’s France, being investigated is the new Légion d’honneur," Durov wrote.

Durov was detained in France in August 2024 and charged in relation to Telegram’s lack of content moderation around criminal activities such as money laundering and drug trafficking. He was allowed to leave France in March 2025 and returned to Dubai, where he has been based since 2014 after refusing to hand over data on protesters in demonstrations against pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. S.

Department of Justice’s refusal to get involved. Éric Bothorel dismissed Durov’s post, writing, "Lesson No. 1 in any serious democracy — including the so-called ‘Pays des lumières’: free speech is not absolute.

And thankfully so. " Prosecutors also allege failures by X to provide basic subscriber information in hate-speech and antisemitism cases, hampering inquiries. The probe includes potential crimes such as complicity in the organized distribution of child-pornography images, infringement of image rights through sexual deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity, fraudulent data extraction by an organized group, falsification of automated data processing systems by an organized group, and operation of an illegal online platform by an organized group.