Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has criticised the French government after the Paris prosecutor’s cyber-crime unit conducted a raid on the local offices of Elon Musk-owned social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). The raids are a part of an investigation which the government launched into suspected offences including unlawful data extraction and alleged child pornography.“French police is currently raiding X’s office in Paris. France is the only country in the world that is criminally persecuting all social networks that give people some degree of freedom (Telegram, X, TikTok…),” said Durov, who was himself detained by French authorities in 2024.“Don’t be mistaken: this is not a free country,” he added.
Why French police has raided X’s office
According to a report in BBC, the Paris prosecutor’s office said that the investigation into suspected offenses that have plagued X. It began in January 2025 and focused on X’s recommendation algorithms but was recently widened to include its controversial AI chatbot, Grok. The authorities are investigating X for a list of severe potential crimes, including:Deepfakes: Infringement of rights through the generation of non-consensual sexualised images using Grok AI chatbot.Child safety: Alleged involvement in the possession or distribution of child sexual abuse material.Fraudulent data extraction: Illegal data harvesting conducted by an “organised group.”The Paris prosecutor’s office also announced it is permanently leaving the X platform, migrating its official communications to LinkedIn and Instagram.
French authorities summon Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino
The prosecutor’s office confirmed that both Elon Musk and former CEO Linda Yaccarino have been officially summoned to appear at hearings in Paris this April. X has previously denied all allegations, labeling the investigation “politically motivated” and an “attack on free speech.” However, in recent times, the platform has faced criticism from international regulators, including the UK’s Ofcom and the European Commission, over the explosion of AI-edited sexual images.
