French police raid X’s Paris office as UK investigation continues

A raid on X’s Paris office was carried out by the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit on Tuesday with Europol and French police as part of an ongoing investigation that expanded in July to include Grok. As previously reported by Reuters, Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino were also summoned for hearings in April.

The investigation, which was initially launched last year, is looking into several allegations against X and Grok, including complicity in possession and distribution of child pornography and denial of crimes against humanity (related to Holocaust denial content), along with claims that X was manipulating its algorithm and illegally extracting data.

On Tuesday, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also announced a separate formal investigation into X and xAI involving Grok and “its potential to produce harmful sexualised image and video content.” It joins another ongoing investigation in the UK from Ofcom, which also shared an update on Tuesday stating that it is not currently investigating xAI, but is still “gathering and analysing evidence to determine whether X has broken the law.”

All of the investigations follow a flood of nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes generated by xAI’s Grok that have proliferated across X. The problem has persisted for weeks, despite claims by X that the feature has been restricted.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.