Prosecutors in Paris said they askedElon Muskto appear for questioning as part of an investigation into thedistribution of sexual deepfakesandHolocaust denial content, after searching X's offices in the French capital early Tuesday.
The search was carried out by the prosecutor's cybercrime unit, in partnership with French police's own cybercrime unit and Europol, the office said on X.
A voluntary summons was issued for Musk andformer X CEO Linda Yaccarinoto appear and answer questions about the platform's adherence to French law.
The prosecutor's office said it was investigating potential criminal offenses including complicity in the possession and distribution of "child pornography images," the violation of personal rights through the generation of "sexual deepfakes," the denial of "crimes against humanity" and the alleged fraudulent extraction of data from an automated processing system, as part of an organized gang.
"The voluntary interviews with the managers should enable them to explain their position on the facts and, where applicable, the compliance measures envisaged," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Musk and Yaccarino have been summoned to appear in Paris in the week of April 20. It's unclear what legal powers, if any, prosecutors have to compel them to appear.
The Paris prosecutor's office added that it was shutting its own account on X and would communicate on LinkedIn and Instagram instead.
In a later statement Europol, European Union's law enforcement agency, said the investigation concerned "a range of suspected criminal offences linked to the functioning and use of the platform, including the dissemination of illegal content and other forms of online criminal activity."
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X did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
But the company's global government affairs account has previouslycriticized the French investigationas "politically motivated" and said the company "categorically denies" the allegations.
X has long facedpolitical pressure from European countriesand from the European Union itself for its alleged influence on elections.
Last year, the E.U.fined X the equivalent of $140 millionfor failing to combat hate speech and misinformation. Last month, the 27-nation bloclaunched a formal investigationinto sexual deepfakes created by X's Grok chatbot.
The probe came a day after Musk said Monday that SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence startup xAI in a record-setting deal that combined the rocket and satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot.
"This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI's mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!" Musk said.
In the United Kingdom, the information commissioner's office said Tuesday it had begun its own investigation into X and the processing of personal information in the generation of deepfakes.
"The reports about Grok raise deeply troubling questions about how people's personal data has been used to generate intimate or sexualized images without their knowledge or consent, and whether the necessary safeguards were put in place to prevent this," William Malcom, an executive director at the office, said in a statement.
This follows thelaunch last month of a separate probe by Ofcom, the British communications regulator.
