France raids X offices, summons Elon Musk over child pornography and deepfake probe

French police raided the Paris offices of social media platform X on Tuesday as prosecutors summoned its owner Elon Musk for questioning over a widening investigation into alleged offences, including the spread of child pornography and deepfakes.The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed the search was part of a probe opened in January last year by its cybercrime unit, conducted in coordination with the EU police agency Europol.In a major escalation of the legal scrutiny facing the platform formerly known as Twitter, prosecutors have issued a formal request for a “voluntary interview” with Musk. They have also summoned Linda Yaccarino, who served as the platform’s CEO from 2023 until her resignation in July 2025.Both executives have been called to appear in Paris on April 20.The summons addresses them in their capacity as “de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events”, according to the statement. In addition to the top leadership, various employees of the platform have been summoned to provide witness testimony during the same week in April.Linda Yaccarino, former CEO of X, speaks during a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 7, 2025. Photo: AFPThe investigation, initially sparked by complaints over alleged algorithm manipulation, has since broadened to cover “complicity” in detaining and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, and the denial of crimes against humanity.