Gambiaj.com – (PARIS, France) – French judicial authorities on Tuesday carried out a search at the Paris offices of social media platform X and summoned its owner, Elon Musk, along with former chief executive Linda Yaccarino, as part of a widening cybercrime investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced.
In a statement released on February 3, 2026, prosecutors said the cybercrime unit had conducted a search at X’s French premises while issuing summonses for Musk and Yaccarino to attend “voluntary hearings” scheduled for April 20. Several employees of the platform have also been called in for questioning.
The measures form part of an investigation opened in early 2025 following complaints lodged by French members of parliament.
Lawmakers accused X of operating biased algorithms that could distort public debate and undermine the platform’s lawful functioning in France.
Since then, the scope of the investigation has expanded significantly. Prosecutors said it now covers suspected offenses including complicity in the possession and dissemination of child sexual abuse material, the organized distribution of such content, the circulation of sexually explicit deepfakes, and acts linked to negationism.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the voluntary hearings are intended to allow X’s leadership and staff to explain their positions on the allegations and, where relevant, outline compliance measures envisaged to bring the platform in line with French law.
“The conduct of this investigation is, at this stage, part of a constructive approach,” the prosecutor’s office said, stressing that the objective is to ensure X’s compliance with French legislation insofar as it operates on national territory.
The search is being conducted with the assistance of the national cyber unit of the French gendarmerie and in the presence of Europol, highlighting the European dimension of the probe.
Prosecutors contrasted the approach taken in the X case with a separate investigation targeting the streaming platform Kick. In that case, arrest warrants were issued in late January against three senior managers and against the platform as a legal entity, after those summoned failed to appear before French justice following the live-streamed death of streamer Jean Pormanove.
French authorities say the differing responses reflect the cooperation, or lack thereof, shown by the platforms under investigation as they seek to enforce national laws in the digital sphere.
