Paris, Feb 3
The Paris prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that the French offices of social media platform X were being searched as part of an investigation.
The prosecutor's cybercrime unit is conducting the searches with the support of Europol and the cyber unit of the National Gendarmerie, it said in a post on X, adding that the action is related to an investigation opened in January 2025.
The investigation was launched after a French lawmaker contacted prosecutors over concerns about allegedly biased algorithms on the X platform, Xinhua news agency cited France Info as reporting.
Citing a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office, France Info said the scope of the investigation was later expanded following additional complaints alleging that the operation of Grok on X had led to the dissemination of Holocaust-denying content and sexually explicit deepfake videos.
X's owner Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino have been summoned to a hearing on April 20, with other X staff also summoned as witnesses, said the report.
As a result of the procedure, the Paris prosecutor's office said it would leave X and direct the public to its other social media accounts.
In December, the European Commission imposed a fine of 120 million euros (about 140 million US dollars) on X for violating its transparency obligations under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).
The penalty stems from three distinct breaches of the DSA, including the deceptive design of X's blue checkmark, lack of transparency in its advertising repository, and the platform's failure to provide researchers with access to public data, Xinhua news agency had reported.
The use of the "blue checkmark," which any user can obtain by paying, to designate "verified accounts" exposes users to scams, including impersonation fraud and other forms of manipulation, according to the Commission.
It added that X's advertisement repository fails to meet the DSA's transparency and accessibility requirements, and that the platform also falls short of its obligation to provide researchers with access to its public data.
US tech billionaire Elon Musk had blasted the European Union (EU) for a fine slapped on his social media platform X for violating transparency rules, warning that his response would target the officials responsible for the penalty.
"The 'EU' imposed this crazy fine not just on (X), but also on me personally, which is even more insane!" the Tesla CEO wrote on X. "Therefore, it would seem appropriate to apply our response not just to the EU, but also to the individuals who took this action against me."
He had followed up with another post, saying, "The EU should be abolished."
- IANS
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