Elon Musk accuses French authorities of ‘political attack’ over X office raid

X/Twitter owner Elon Musk’s social media platform continues to find itself in hot water legally, with UK regulators Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the European Commission and now Paris prosecutors all investigating the company – with Musk branding the latter a “political attack” on his business.

Ofcom, the ICO and the European Commission are looking into the platform's AI Grok and its ‘undressing’ of images of women and children.

Meanwhile, French prosecutors are looking at both this and alleged data tampering and fraud as part of an investigation launched last year. “X categorically denies these allegations,” it said in a post from its Global Government Affairs account last year.

The prosecutor’s office said: “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the aim of ultimately ensuring that the X platform complies with French laws, insofar as it operates on national territory.”

However, Musk and X aren’t all that happy with the latest developments, which has seen French authorities raid X’s Paris office in what the platform said was “an abusive act of law enforcement theater”.

Its Global Government Affairs account tweeted on Tuesday: “The Paris Public Prosecutor's Office is plainly attempting to exert pressure on X’s senior management in the United States by targeting our French entity and employees, who are not the focus of this investigation.

“The Prosecutor’s Office has ignored the established procedural mechanisms to obtain evidence in compliance with international treaties and X’s rights to defend itself. These procedural mechanisms are well known and used on a daily basis by judicial authorities around the world.

“The allegations underlying today’s raid are baseless and X categorically denies any wrongdoing. Today’s staged raid reinforces our conviction that this investigation distorts French law, circumvents due process, and endangers free speech.

“X is committed to defending its fundamental rights and the rights of its users. We will not be intimidated by the actions of French judicial authorities today.”

Musk quote tweeted the post and added that the raid was a “political attack”, while former CEO Linda Yaccarino said it was an “outrageous example of another EU proxy campaign to pressure @elonmusk and X”.

French authorities soon clapped back at Musk, with the official response account for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeting: “Investigating child sexual abuse material isn’t controversial. Turning it into political theatre is manipulation.”

And the French embassy in the US quoted “the law of the land” in the country by writing: “The Law is the expression of the general will. […] It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes.’

“#NoOneIsAboveTheLaw,” it added.

Why not read…?

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• Here's 16 of Elon Musk's biggest controversies

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