French prosecutors have summoned Elon Musk to appear in Paris for a voluntary interview on Monday as part of a widening judicial investigation into his social media platform X, though it remains uncertain whether the billionaire will attend. The summons, issued in February, stems from an investigation launched in early 2025 into allegations that X's algorithm was used to interfere in French domestic politics. That probe has since been significantly expanded to encompass X's AI chatbot Grok, which stands accused of disseminating Holocaust denials and generating sexualised deepfake images of women and minors.
Paris prosecutors have identified seven suspected criminal offences at the heart of the investigation, including complicity in possessing child sexual abuse material, denial of crimes against humanity, and violations of personal image rights through sexually explicit deepfakes. In early February, French authorities conducted searches of X's Paris offices — a move the company denounced as an "abusive judicial act" driven by "political motivations." X has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and at this stage the platform has not been formally charged. Former X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, who resigned in July last year after two years leading the company, was also summoned alongside Musk as a former manager of the platform. X employees have additionally been called to appear as witnesses between Monday and Thursday this week.
The Paris prosecutor's office made clear on Saturday that the inquiry will proceed regardless of whether Musk or other summoned individuals choose to appear, noting that under French criminal procedure, attendance at a voluntary interview — known as an audition libre — is not compulsory but gives those under suspicion an opportunity to present their version of events.
The French investigation is part of a broader international reckoning over Grok's content moderation failures. The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit watchdog, estimated that the chatbot generated approximately three million sexualised images — including around 23,000 depicting what appeared to be children — within just eleven days, after it emerged that users could generate such content using simple text prompts. Britain's data protection regulator launched its own investigation in February into both X and xAI over compliance with personal data laws, while the European Union separately opened a probe into Grok's generation of sexualised deepfake imagery of women and minors.
The case puts fresh pressure on Musk, who has publicly dismissed the French proceedings as a "political attack." Whether he appears before Paris prosecutors on Monday is likely to set the tone for the legal battle ahead — one that authorities have signalled will continue with or without his cooperation.