Will Elon Musk respond to the summons from the Paris prosecutor's office? The American multi-billionaire is expected on Monday for a voluntary interview as part of the investigation conducted by the French justice system into his social network X.

In early February, the justice system conducted a search of X's premises and summoned the 54-year-old man to come and explain himself, as part of an investigation into the alleged abuses of his social network.

Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino are targeted "in their capacity as de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events," explained Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

The investigations focus in particular on suspicions of complicity in "possession of images" of a "child pornography nature" or of "denial of crimes against humanity".

In a statement, the social network X denounced an "abusive legal action" based "on political motives" and denied any wrongdoing. It asserted that it would "not be intimidated."

The social network says that "the Paris prosecutor's office is clearly trying to exert pressure on the general management of X in the United States by targeting (its) French entity".

The French justice system also sent a report to the American authorities. On Friday, the latter took a position in support of X, according to a letter addressed to the French, which the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The Office of International Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice believes that the Paris investigation violates the First Amendment of the Federal Constitution on freedom of speech.

The requests to the American authorities "constitute an attempt to involve the United States in a politically sensitive criminal proceeding aimed at (...) unduly regulating" X's activities, according to the letter quoted by the newspaper.

"Constructive approach"

Company X is the subject of a preliminary investigation, which began with reports in early 2025 alleging bias in its algorithms.

The investigation was subsequently expanded following further reports, particularly concerning the operation of Grok, the artificial intelligence tool integrated into the social network X, which led to the dissemination of denialist content and "deepfakes," i.e., hyper-realistic, sexually explicit montages.

According to the Paris prosecutor, the voluntary hearings "of the managers should allow them to explain their position on the facts and, if necessary, the compliance measures envisaged."

"This investigation is being conducted at this stage in a constructive manner," the magistrate stated, "with the ultimate goal of ensuring that platform X complies with French law." Employees of X have also been summoned from Monday to Thursday "to be heard as witnesses."

Reports from members of parliament

This summer, in the judicial investigation targeting another platform, Kick, the public prosecutor's office issued arrest warrants for the three managers at the end of January. At the time, the public prosecutor explained that they were forced to do so because the individuals involved, having been summoned, had not appeared.

At this stage, platform X is not subject to criminal prosecution in this case.

The head of X France, Laurent Buanec, had assured on January 22, 2025 that X had "strict, clear and public rules aimed at protecting the platform from hate speech" and that its algorithm was "built in such a way as to avoid (...) offering hateful content".

Tensions had risen further in mid-March when the Paris prosecutor's office reported to US authorities a possible "artificial valuation" of companies X and xAI by the world's richest man, in the wake of the controversy sparked by the sexually explicit "deepfakes" generated by Grok.

Musk's reaction, on X and in French in the text: "They are mentally retarded."

AFP