French police raid X offices in political interference probe, summon Elon Musk

EU police agency Europol, in coordination with French authorities, raided the Elon Musk-owned X’s offices in France on Tuesday over allegations regarding the platform’s algorithm’s use to interfere in the country’s politics.

The investigation into the micro-blogging site was opened in January 2025 and prosecutors called for a police probe in July last year.

French police are investigating X’s involvement in several suspected crimes, including the alleged manipulation and extracting data from automated systems.

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office said, “A search is being conducted today at the French premises of the X platform,” adding that the de facto and de jure managers of X at that time, Elon Musk and Ms. Linda Yaccarino, respectively, were called for “voluntary interviews” on April 20, 2026.

Yaccarino resigned from X in July 2025.

Musk has been accused of reducing the diversity of voices and options and personal interventions to manipulate X’s algorithm since buying it in 2022.

The prosecutor’s office stated that the investigation has now broadened following the additional reports about xAI chatbot Grok’s role in creating sexual deepfakes.

X has denied the allegations, saying the platform had strict public rules to protect it from hate speech and declared the investigation to be “politically motivated”.