Elon Musk fails to appear at Paris legal summons over alleged child abuse, deepfakes on X - BERITAJA

Elon Musk grounded to look astatine a summons to meet connected Monday pinch Paris prosecutors, wherever investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media level X, including the dispersed of kid intersexual maltreatment worldly and deepfake content.

Musk and Linda Yaccarino — the erstwhile CEO of X — were summoned for “voluntary interviews,” while different labor of X were scheduled to beryllium heard arsenic witnesses passim this week, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

Musk was summoned after a hunt took spot successful February astatine the French premises of X arsenic portion of an investigation opened successful January 2025 by the cybercrime portion of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino had been invited successful their capacities arsenic managers of X astatine the clip of the events investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.

“These voluntary interviews pinch the executives are intended to let them to coming their position regarding the facts and, wherever appropriate, the compliance measures they scheme to implement,” prosecutors said. “At this stage, the behaviour of this investigation is portion of a constructive approach, pinch the eventual nonsubjective of ensuring that level X complies pinch French law, insofar arsenic it operates wrong the nationalist territory.”

The Paris prosecutor’s agency told The Associated Press that Musk and Yaccarino’s imaginable no-show connected Monday “is not an obstacle for investigations to continue” up of the meeting.

In a later connection to the BBC connected Monday, the Paris prosecutor’s agency said it had “taken statement of the absence of the group summoned,” without naming Musk.

When asked for remark earlier connected Monday, X pointed the BBC to a station by Musk connected the societal media platform from February, calling the probe a “political attack.”

BERITAJA has reached retired to the Paris prosecutor’s agency for further comment.

What is being investigated?

French authorities opened their investigation aft reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms connected X apt distorted the functioning of an automated information processing system. It expanded aft the AI system, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust (a crime successful France) and dispersed sexually definitive deepfakes.

Authorities are looking into alleged “complicity” successful possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, sexually definitive deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated information processing strategy arsenic portion of an organized group, on pinch different charges.

X has antecedently denied immoderate wrongdoing and referred to the allegations arsenic “baseless.”

Following the ambush astatine X’s Paris agency successful February, the societal media platform’s Global Government Affairs squad wrote, “French judicial authorities raided X’s Paris agency coming successful relationship pinch a politicized criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of algorithms and purported fraudulent information extraction.”

“We are disappointed by this development, but we are not surprised. The Paris Public Prosecutor’s agency wide publicized the ambush — making clear that today’s action was an abusive enactment of rule enforcement theatre designed to execute illegitimate governmental objectives alternatively than beforehand morganatic rule enforcement goals rooted successful the adjacent and impartial management of justice,” the connection said.

X’s Global Government Affairs squad accused the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office of “plainly attempting to exert unit connected X’s elder guidance successful the United States by targeting our French entity and employees, who are not the attraction of this investigation.”

“The Prosecutor’s Office has ignored the established procedural mechanisms to get grounds successful compliance pinch world treaties and X’s authorities to take sides itself,” the connection continued. “These procedural mechanisms are good known and utilized connected a regular ground by judicial authorities about the world.”

“The allegations underlying today’s ambush are baseless and X categorically denies immoderate wrongdoing.”

The squad said that X is “committed to defending its basal authorities and the authorities of its users.”

“We will not beryllium intimidated by the actions of French judicial authorities today,” the connection concluded.

French prosecutors alert U.S. authorities

In March, the Paris prosecutor’s agency alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the U.S. national agency responsible for regulating and overseeing financial markets — suggesting “that the contention surrounding sexually definitive deepfakes generated by Grok whitethorn person been deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the worth of the companies X and xAI — perchance constituting criminal offenses,” prosecutors said.

The prosecutor’s agency besides said this could person been done “ahead of the planned June 2026 banal marketplace listing of the caller entity formed by the merger of SpaceX and xAI, astatine a clip erstwhile institution X was intelligibly losing momentum.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department told French authorities it wouldn’t thief facilitate their efforts to analyse Musk’s X. The outlet reported that the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs accused Paris prosecutors of inappropriately utilizing its justness strategy to interfere pinch an American business.

In a two-page missive sent past week, the Justice Department besides said that France’s requests for U.S. assistance “constitute an effort to entangle the United States successful a politically charged criminal proceeding aimed astatine wrongfully regulating done prosecution the business activities of a societal media platform.”

Katie Miller, the woman of White House lawman main of unit Stephen Miller, shared the article successful a station and wrote, “The Justice Department conscionable told French rule enforcement authorities it wouldn’t facilitate their efforts to analyse X. @TheJusticeDept accused France of abusing its criminal justness strategy to target an American institution and censor free reside — successful clear usurpation of the First Amendment.”

Musk quoted Miller’s station connected X, writing, “Indeed, this needs to stop.”

X nether scrutiny successful different countries

X has besides been nether scrutiny from the European Union. The 27-nation bloc opened an investigation successful January aft Grok allegedly published “manipulated sexually definitive images, including contented that whitethorn magnitude to kid intersexual maltreatment material.”

Brussels has already fined X 120 cardinal euros for shortcomings nether the union’s sweeping integer regulations, including bluish checkmarks that collapsed rules connected “deceptive creation practices” and risked exposing users to scams and manipulation.

In January, Canada’s privateness watchdog expanded its investigation into X and announced the investigation would turn to see xAI, pursuing reports that Grok is being utilized to create definitive images of individuals without their consent.

“The investigations will analyse whether X Corp. and xAI are gathering their obligations nether Canada’s national private-sector privateness law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA),” according to a news release from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

“The usage of individual accusation without consent to create deepfakes, including friendly images, is simply a increasing arena that poses superior risks to individuals’ basal correct to privacy. I person decided to grow my investigation to reside this rumor fixed its value and the imaginable superior harms that it whitethorn origin to Canadians,” said Philippe Dufresne, Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Ashley St. Clair sues Elon Musk’s xAI complete AI-deepfake images

Musk’s xAI was sued by Ashley St. Clair, the mother of Musk’s boy Romulus, successful January aft she alleged Grok created definitive intersexual images of her without her consent.

St. Clair revenge the suit successful New York connected Jan. 15. It alleges she had notified xAI that users were creating illicit deepfake photos of her “in sexually definitive poses.”

She requested that the Grok work beryllium prevented from creating non-consensual images, according to the ineligible documents obtained by Beritaja and viewed by BERITAJA.

“xAI’s merchandise Grok, a generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) chatbot, uses AI to undress, humiliate, and sexually utilization victims — creating genuine looking, altered heavy clone contented of children covered successful semen, women stripped naked and successful sexually definitive bikinis, and Holocaust survivors successful bikinis successful beforehand of attraction camps,” the suit reads.

St. Clair claims that Grok “created and disseminated altered, deepfake content” of her connected the societal media level X “as a kid stripped down to a drawstring bikini, and arsenic an big successful sexually definitive poses.”

She reported the images to X and requested their removal, according to the lawsuit. But instead, she claims that Grok “proceeded to spot warnings for ‘nudity, intersexual content, violence, gore, aliases hateful symbols'” connected St. Clair’s responses to Grok and deboosted her relationship while simultaneously keeping the images up.”

The suit states that arsenic a consequence of the images, St. Clair has “suffered, and continues to suffer, superior individual injuries, including but not constricted to affectional distress, psychological trauma, nonaccomplishment of privacy, reputational harm, and fearfulness of continued dissemination.”

St. Clair is asking for xAI to extremity utilizing her image and is seeking monetary damages, including lawyer’s fees incurred.

After St. Clair revenge her suit successful New York, it was transferred to the national Southern District of New York aft a petition from xAI, according to tribunal documents.

“xAI files this Notice of Removal solely for the intent of removing the instant Action and does not waive, and specifically reserves, immoderate and each defenses, arguments, and affirmative matters,” the announcement of removal reads.

The institution then sued St. Clair successful national court successful Texas, claiming she violated xAI’s position of service, and requested damages of much than $75,000.

It said that immoderate claims against xAI must beryllium revenge successful either national tribunal successful the Northern District of Texas aliases successful authorities courts successful Tarrant County, Texas, because that is wherever the institution is based.

— With files from BERITAJA’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press