Elon Musk has apparently decided that a voluntary interview with French prosecutors in Paris on Monday, April 20, was not a mandatory part of his calendar. The summons was part of an investigation, first launched in January 2025, into suspected criminal offences related to content on his platform, X.
The Paris prosecutor's cyber-crime unit had already raided X's offices in February. The probe was later widened over specific concerns about X's chatbot, Grok, being used to create non-consensual sexual deepfake images. On Monday, the prosecutor's office noted the absence of the summoned individuals but clarified that the investigation would proceed regardless.
When asked for comment, X directed the BBC to a February post by Musk in which he labelled the probe a "political attack." This stance appears to have some support from the U.S. Justice Department, which, according to a Wall Street Journal report from Saturday, informed French authorities it would not assist in the investigation and accused them of misusing the U.S. justice system. Musk responded to the report on X, writing, "indeed, this needs to stop."
This is not Musk's first no-show for a legal appointment. He also failed to attend a court-ordered appearance in Los Angeles in September 2024 as part of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his Twitter takeover.
The French investigation initially focused on allegations that X's algorithm was used to interfere in French politics. It expanded to include concerns about Grok disseminating Holocaust denial and its ability to edit images of women, and reportedly some children, to create sexual deepfakes. This has triggered regulatory action against X and its parent company, xAI, in the UK, EU, and elsewhere.
Prosecutors are investigating a range of suspected offences, including complicity in the possession or organised distribution of child sexual abuse material, infringement of image rights via sexual deepfakes, and suspected fraudulent data extraction by an organised group. X has denied all wrongdoing, calling the allegations "baseless" and describing the February raid as a staged event that distorts French law and endangers free speech.
Linda Yaccarino, X's former chief executive who was in her role during the period of the suspected offences, was also summoned for a voluntary interview in April alongside Musk. She has echoed his criticism, previously accusing French prosecutors on X of carrying out "a political vendetta against Americans."