Elon Musk did not attend a voluntary interview he was summoned to appear at in Paris on Monday as part of a French investigation into his social media platform X, authorities have confirmed.
The Paris prosecutor’s office told the BBC it had “taken note of the absence of the people summoned,” adding that “the presence or absence is not an obstacle to continuing the investigation.”
Musk was given the date of April 20 for an interview as part of an investigation first launched in 2025 but later widened over concerns about X’s chatbot Grok being used to create non-consensual sexual deepfake images. The company’s offices were raided by the Paris prosecutor’s cyber-crime unit in February over suspected criminal offences related to content on the platform.
When asked for comment, X pointed the BBC to a post by Musk from February in which he labelled the probe a “political attack.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the US Justice Department told French authorities in a letter it would not assist in their investigation of X, accusing them of misusing the US justice system. Musk responded to a post about the report on X, writing “indeed, this needs to stop.”
French prosecutors first began investigating X in January 2025 after receiving reports highlighting concerns about its recommended content, particularly allegations that its algorithm had been used to interfere in French politics. The probe was subsequently widened over concerns about content generated by Grok, including dissemination of Holocaust denial and its ability to create non-consensual sexual deepfakes.
Prosecutors in Paris said in February they were investigating X over a range of suspected offences, including complicity in possession of child sexual abuse material and infringement of people’s image rights with sexual deepfakes.
X has previously denied any wrongdoing and described the allegations as “baseless,” stating that “today’s staged raid reinforces our conviction that this investigation distorts French law, circumvents due process, and endangers free speech.”
Linda Yaccarino, X’s former chief executive, was also summoned to a voluntary interview in Paris alongside Musk. She has previously accused French prosecutors of carrying out “a political vendetta against Americans.”
