French prosecutors are investigating the social media platform over alleged deepfakes and Holocaust denial \u2013 which the tech mogul dismissed as a \u201cpolitical attack\u201d<\/p>\n
French investigators have summoned X owner Elon Musk for a \u201cvoluntary interview\u201d which they say could shed light on allegations that the platform was involved in the spread of AI-generated child sexual abuse images and deepfake content.
\nThe French authorities have had a long-running feud with the US-based billionaire, casting his social media platform as a potential threat to democracy, while Musk says he is defending freedom of speech.
\nAccording to the Wall Street Journal, France attempted to convince the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to cooperate in the probe \u2013 only to be rebutted over what the DOJ suspected was an attempt \u201cto entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding.\u201d
\nHere is what we know about the Musk-France feud so far.
\nHow did the feud between Musk and France start?
\nThe probe dates back to January 2025, when a formal complaint against X was lodged by a French MP and a public official. According to reports at the time, the documents cited a \u201cmajor modification in the algorithm used by the X platform,\u201d resulting in a surge of \u201chateful, racist, anti-LGBTQ, or homophobic\u201d content designed to \u201cskew democratic debate in France\u201d.
\nAround the same time, Musk was openly endorsing European right-wing parties, including the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Reform UK, and France\u2019s National Rally.
\nA formal criminal investigation over alleged algorithm manipulation and illicit data extraction was opened in July 2025 and handed to the national police.
\nX denied any wrongdoing, describing the probe as an attack on free speech that distorted domestic law to \u201cserve a political agenda.\u201d The platform also complained that the authorities classified it as an \u201corganized gang\u201d and said it would not cooperate, adding that prosecutors were steering the investigation toward a predetermined outcome.
\nWhat has France accused X of?
\nThe probe has since been expanded to include the following allegations:\u2022 Complicity in the possession of pornographic images of minors \u2022 Complicity in the organized distribution of these images \u2022 Defamation of personal image through sexual deepfakes \u2022 Denial of crimes against humanity (Holocaust denial) \u2022 Fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system by an organized group \u2022 Falsification of the operation of an automated data processing system by an organized group \u2022 Operating an illegal online platform by an organized group
\nHas controversial sexualized content been generated by Grok and X?
\nX found itself in hot water in late 2025 and early 2026 when the Grok AI assistant generated an estimated 3 million sexualized images, including thousands that appeared to depict children. Grok\u2019s \u2018spicy mode\u2019 reportedly sexualized public figures such as Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, and former US Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Elon Musk spreading lies against South Africa \u2013 presidency<\/p>\n
Some users asked Grok to edit photos of women into sexualized poses and revealing clothing, and others asked it to add blood and bruising; the chatbot publicly posted these graphic images in response.
\nIn response to the backlash, in January, X restricted Grok\u2019s ability to edit photos of real people and show them in revealing clothing in jurisdictions where it is illegal. According to NBC, however, Grok still continues to fulfill these requests in some cases.
\nHolocaust controversy
\nIn November 2025, Grok answered questions about common myths surrounding the Holocaust in a thread under a post by a convicted French Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi militant, writing that the gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for \u201cdisinfection with Zyklon B against typhus\u201d rather than mass murder \u2013 effectively denying well-established Nazi crimes.
\nGrok later backpedaled, calling its statement \u2018false\u2019 and attributing it to \u201can anomalous glitch in an early output.\u201d Musk explained the incident by saying that Grok \u201cwas too compliant to user prompts\u201d and the issue was being dealt with.
\nThe authorities in France \u2013 which has strict Holocaust-denial laws \u2013 expanded the probe to include the incident.
\n\u2019Free speech is pure bulls**t\u2019
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron has made no secret of his intention to introduce more guardrails for regulating social media. In February, in one of his most brazen takes on the matter, he blasted social media platforms for \u201chaving no clue about how their algorithm is made.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Soros has \u2018taken over\u2019 Hungary \u2013 Musk<\/p>\n
\u201cThe democratic consequences of this bias could be huge,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cFree speech is pure bulls**t if nobody knows how you are guided to this so-called free speech, especially when it is guided from one hate speech to another.\u201d
\nHe has also accused X of being \u201cdominated by far-right content,\u201d suggesting that the platform is no longer neutral because of the political affiliation of its owner.
\nIs Washington cooperating in the probe against Musk and X?
\nAccording to the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ told the French law enforcement authorities that it would not facilitate their efforts to investigate X. The letter seen by the outlet argued that the investigation \u201cseeks to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate a public square for the free expression of ideas,\u201d and that French requests for US assistance \u201cconstitute an effort to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding.\u201d
\nThe Paris prosecutor\u2019s office said it has no knowledge of the DOJ letter.
\nThe Trump administration has long criticized the EU over what it describes as \u201cdigital censorship\u201d and \u201cregulatory suffocation\u201d \u2013 including the bloc\u2019s strict digital market guidelines, which the administration claims discriminate against US-based tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
French prosecutors are investigating the social media platform over alleged deepfakes and Holocaust denial \u2013 which the tech mogul dismissed as a \u201cpolitical attack\u201d French investigators have summoned X owner…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t