French prosecutors said Wednesday that they have opened an investigation into Elon Musk and social media platform X over the distribution of child sexual abuse images, deepfakes, disinformation and alleged complicity in denying crimes against humanity linked to the platform’s artificial intelligence system, Grok.
Issued on: 08/05/2026 -
By: FRANCE 24
French prosecutors are seeking charges against Elon Musk and his social platform X over child sexual abuse images on the platform, deepfakes, disinformation and complicity in denying crimes against humanity by the platform's artificial intelligence system, Grok.
The Paris public prosecutor's office said Wednesday it has opened an investigation into X on charges including complicity in possessing and distributing child sexual abuse images and unlawfully collecting personal data. It's also investigating charges of disseminating non-consensual images or other content and denial of crimes against humanity.
X and its parent company SpaceX did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.
The investigation comes less than three weeks after Musk and Linda Yaccarino – the former CEO of X – were summoned for “voluntary interviews" to discuss the allegations. They did not show up, but French authorities said this wouldn't hinder the investigation.
Musk was summoned after a search took place in February at the French premises of X as part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino have been invited in their capacities as managers of X at the time of the events investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.
French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. It expanded after the AI system, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes.
It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading sexual abuse images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organised group, among other charges.
Why is French cybercrime unit investigating Elon Musk's X?
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Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage this year after it pumped out a torrent of sexualised non-consensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.
Grok also wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder – language long associated with Holocaust denial.
In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted, and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.
In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggesting “that the controversy surrounding sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the value of the companies X and xAI – potentially constituting criminal offences,” prosecutors said.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Musk to pay $1.5 million to settle Twitter takeover case
05.05.2026, DPA
Photo: Patrick Pleul/dpa Pool/dpa
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is set to end a lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his share purchases during his takeover of Twitter with a payment of $1.5 million.
Musk and the SEC agreed on the amount in a settlement disclosed on Monday that will be submitted to the assigned judge for approval. The penalty is only a fraction of the $150 million the SEC alleged Musk saved by violating disclosure rules.
In the lawsuit, filed in early 2025, the SEC accused Musk of failing to disclose in time that his stake in Twitter had crossed the 5% threshold while he was buying shares in the online platform in 2022. That allowed him to buy more shares at lower prices, the regulator said.
The SEC analyzed Musk's purchases and concluded that the delayed mandatory disclosure had saved him more than $150 million. Shareholders who sold him their shares during that period suffered financial harm, according to the regulator.
The SEC had initially sought to force Musk to repay that amount and pay an additional penalty. According to Musk's lawyers, the agency had demanded $200 million in an earlier settlement offer.
Musk failed in February in an attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed. His lawyers had argued that the SEC had applied the law selectively and that the lawsuit violated his right to free speech. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, however, saw no reason to dismiss the case.
The tech billionaire began buying Twitter shares on the market in early 2022. In its lawsuit, the SEC said his stake reached 5% on March 14, 2022.
Under US rules, Musk should have made that public within 10 calendar days. But he only disclosed on April 4 - 11 days too late - that he already held 9%. Twitter's share price then jumped by 27%, the SEC noted.
Musk spent around $44 billion on the purchase of Twitter, which was completed in October 2022. He sold shares in Tesla, the electric carmaker he leads, to finance most of the deal. Musk also took out loans of around $12 billion.
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