• Elon Musk failed to appear for voluntary questioning by Paris prosecutors
• French authorities are investigating X and Grok over political interference and harmful content
• The probe includes allegations linked to Holocaust denial and sexual deepfakes

Tech billionaire Elon Musk failed to appear on Monday, April 20, for a voluntary interview with Paris prosecutors investigating his social media platform, X, and its AI chatbot, Grok.

French prosecutors confirmed to AFP that they had “taken note of the absence of the first people summoned,” without directly naming Musk.

Musk had earlier criticised French authorities in a French-language post on X, calling them “retards.”

Despite the no-show, prosecutors said the investigation would continue.

“The presence or absence (of the people summoned) is not an obstacle to continuing the investigation,” prosecutors added.

French authorities first issued the summons in February as part of an inquiry launched in January 2025 into claims that X’s algorithm may have been used to influence French politics.

The probe later widened to include allegations involving Holocaust denial content and sexual deepfakes reportedly generated by Grok.

In February, French prosecutors also raided X’s Paris offices.

The company, which denies any wrongdoing, described the searches as “politicised” and called them an “abusive judicial act”.

At the same time, prosecutors summoned Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino for voluntary questioning as the “de facto and de jure managers of the X platform at the time of the events”.

Musk dismissed the move as a “political attack”.

Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X in July last year after serving for two years.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in February that X employees had also been asked to appear between April 20 and April 24 as witnesses.

However, prosecutors stressed that whether or not they attend “would not be ‘an obstacle to the continuation of the investigation’”.

French officials have not revealed where or when Musk was expected to be questioned.

The investigation reportedly covers several suspected offences, including alleged complicity in possessing child sexual abuse material and the denial of crimes against humanity.

In July, X described the case as “politically motivated”.

Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov, who is also facing a French investigation linked to illegal activity on his platform, voiced support for Musk.

President Emmanuel “Macron’s France is losing legitimacy as it weaponises criminal investigations to suppress free speech and privacy”, Durov wrote in a post on X.

France’s investigation comes amid growing global scrutiny of Grok after reports emerged that users could create sexualised images of women and children with simple prompts.

According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Grok generated around three million sexualised images in just 11 days. Most depicted women, while about 23,000 appeared to involve children.

In February, Britain’s data regulator launched separate investigations into X and xAI over “serious concerns” about whether the companies followed personal data laws in relation to Grok’s deepfake image generation.

The European Union also opened its own probe into X in January over Grok’s alleged production of sexualised deepfake images involving women and minors.

EU says Elon Musk’s X offers changes to blue checkmark after €120m fine

Meanwhile, TheRadar earlier reported that Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, had proposed changes to its blue checkmark system for “verified” accounts, following a €120 million ($138 million) fine imposed on the company.

The European Union had levied the fine in December for breaches of its digital regulations, including the platform’s allegedly “deceptive design” of the verification checkmark.

The platform’s verification changes come amid scrutiny over paid verification, disinformation, and AI chatbot deepfake concerns.