A search of the French premises of the social network X, owned by Elon Musk, was carried out on Tuesday by French authorities as part of a criminal preliminary investigation into issues of cybercrime, algorithmic interference and possible dissemination of illegal content, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

According to the official statement, the investigation was carried out by the Paris prosecutor’s office’s Cybercrime Directorate, with the assistance of the French gendarmerie’s National Cybercrime Unit and Europol. The prosecutor’s office has also made it clear that it will no longer publish announcements via the X platform.

The investigation was launched following a report submitted on 12 January 2025 by the MP of the Renaissance party, Eric Báthorel. In a letter made public in February last year, the French MP expressed “strong concerns about recent changes to the platform’s algorithms, as well as apparent interference in its management following its acquisition by Elon Musk.”

Meanwhile, a second similar report was filed by a senior cybersecurity executive working in the French civil service. According to the complaint, changes to X’s algorithm resulted in the over-screening of “political content of a low quality and highly problematic nature”, raising concerns about the platform’s operation in the public debate.

In recent weeks, the prosecution’s microscope has also been on the artificial intelligence tool Grok, which is part of the X ecosystem. Authorities are investigating allegations that some users allegedly exploited its functionality to create and disseminate pornographic or even child pornography.

According to the investigation, Grok is accused of producing or facilitating the dissemination of false videos of a sexual nature, featuring naked women or even minors, who in some cases were real persons.

These cases are being investigated as part of a wider inquiry into the responsibility of digital platforms and artificial intelligence systems in the dissemination of illegal content.