PARIS, May 7 (Reuters) – Paris’ public prosecutor has opened a judicial investigation into Elon Musk’s X social media platform, a new step in a probe over alleged abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data, the prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.
The latest legal development puts investigating judges in charge of the probe and follows tech billionaire Musk’s failure to appear at an April 20 summons for questioning.
The public prosecutor is requesting that judges place X.AI Holdings Corp, X Corp and xAI, as well as Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, under formal investigation.
This would be achieved by summoning them for that purpose, or, if they failed to appear, judges could issue a warrant which would be equivalent to putting them under formal investigation, the statement said.
Reuters could not immediately reach representatives for Musk or X. Kami Haeri, a lawyer for X, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation, which has been expanded in past months to include suspected complicity in the distribution of child pornography and the creation of sexual deepfakes by Grok, has added to strains in relations between the U.S. and Europe over Big Tech and free speech.
In July, Musk denied the initial accusations and said French prosecutors were launching a “politically motivated criminal investigation.”
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Nia Williams)
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