Elon Musk, owner of the social network X and the richest man in the world according to Forbes, had been summoned this Monday by the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office as part of an investigation into his platform for a possible violation of French legislation in the functioning of algorithms, although, as expected, he did not attend the appointment. As it was a voluntary hearing, he was not obliged to. Aware that he would not go, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office had clarified that the investigations would continue, with or without his collaboration.
Read more Chess videos | Alekhine produces art blindfolded
According to The Wall Street Journal, which cites the US Department of Justice, the entrepreneur, also owner of Tesla, “has no intention of collaborating with French justice,” as he believes the investigation “aims to use the French criminal system to regulate a public space intended for the free expression of ideas and opinions.”
The investigation began in January last year on suspicion of manipulation of the social network’s algorithms to interfere in the political debate in France and for the dissemination of messages denying the Holocaust. The alarm was raised by a deputy from the Renaissance party, Eric Bothorel. He denounced a change in the algorithm’s functioning that favored certain content since Elon Musk acquired the platform in 2022.
Shortly after, the investigations were expanded following complaints about the functioning of the Grok chatbot, the AI tool integrated into the platform, which allowed the dissemination of pornographic content and sexual deepfakes, videos and images of sexual content created by AI, especially of minors and women.
In February, justice raided X’s offices in Paris as part of this investigation and it was then that Elon Musk, as well as the network’s former CEO, Linda Yaccarino, were summoned to testify to explain themselves. In a message, the aforementioned platform, which denies any irregularity in its activity, called the French judges “mentally retarded.”
In addition, Reporters Without Borders has filed a new complaint for “the proliferation of content leading to disinformation.” “Disinformation campaigns flood X (…) although Elon Musk’s platform teams are aware of the situation, they have refused to remove the content in question,” the organization denounces.
Read more An electric pistol shot every 57 hours
This week, platform employees had also been summoned to testify as witnesses, although also voluntarily and with little hope that they would appear. As in Musk’s case, their absence will not constitute an obstruction to the investigation. According to the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, the aim is “to ensure that X complies with French legislation and these voluntary hearings will allow them to explain their position on the facts.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office recalls that it is not only France, but other judicial authorities in Europe have also opened investigations against X, as is the case in the United Kingdom.
Two years ago, after the billionaire had acquired X, President Emmanuel Macron received Musk and other entrepreneurs with full honors at the Palace of Versailles for the Choose France event, which is organized every year to attract foreign investors. Now, Musk has lashed out at the judicial investigation — which he says has “political motivations” — in addition to calling French judges “mentally retarded.”
The investigation comes at a time when France is processing a law to ban social networks for minors under 15 and judicial pressure on powerful digital platforms is increasing to try to regulate their activity and put an end to what the Government calls the “digital far west.” In recent months, investigations have been opened against the Chinese company Shein for the sale of sexualized products and also against Telegram.
The founder of the latter, Pavel Duroc, was accused in August 2024 of a dozen crimes, including complicity in the organized distribution and making available of pornographic images of minors on the Telegram network. Duroc came out this Monday in defense of Elon Musk: “Macron’s France loses its legitimacy when it uses criminal investigations as a weapon to restrict freedom of expression and against private life (…) In Macron’s France, being investigated is the new Legion of Honor,” he ironized on his social networks.
Read more ‘The Love That Remains’, a surreal and tragicomic portrait of a fractured family