Elon Musk’s X under investigation in France over foreign influence allegations

The Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened an official investigation into the US social media platform X and its leadership – including billionaire owner Elon Musk – over suspicions that its algorithm may be biased in favour of foreign influence.

The cybercrime division of the Paris public prosecutor’s office launched the investigation on 9 July – the same day X's CEO Linda Yaccarino resigned – following notifications received earlier this year.

Inquiries into X and its leaders have been entrusted to the French military police by the public prosecutor's office, chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced in a press release on 11 July.

Musk and X leaders are suspected of deliberately disrupting data processing and fraudulent data extraction "as part of organised crime", the press release further reads.

In summer 2024, the Paris cybercrime unit arrested and sent Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov under house arrest in a highly-public case.

Following incidents of X’s AI model Grok producing antisemitic remarks and praising Adolf Hitler earlier this week, Poland asked the Commission's Tech chief Henna Virkkunen to act against the chatbot.

In France, two French MPs to refer the case to Arcom, the country's content regulatory authority, on 10 July.

Grok also expressed clear support for French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen, which is reminiscent of Elon Musk’s interventions in support of far-right leader Alice Weidel in Germany earlier this year.

X did not answer to Euractiv's request for comment by the time of publication.

(vib)