‘Investigating child sex abuse isn’t controversial’: France rejects Musk’s charge after raid on X’s Paris office

After Elon Musk called the raid on X’s Paris office as a ‘political attack’, France said that investigating child sexual abuse material was not controversial. France is investigating X’s chatbot Grok for generating sexually explicit deepfakes and Musk has ramped up his anti-EU rhetoric.

After Elon Musk called the raid on X’s Paris office as a “political attack”, French foreign ministry on Wednesday said that investigating child sexual abuse material was not controversial.

France is investigating X's chatbot Grok in two cases: one related to generating sexually explicit deepfakes of real people without consent another related to its antisemitic tirade last year. In the case related to deepfakes, French authorities searched X’s Paris office on Tuesday and summoned Musk.

In response to Musk’s comment, the French foreign ministry said, “Investigating child sexual abuse material isn’t controversial. Turning it into political theater is manipulation. Maybe that logic flies on some island. Doesn’t fly in France.”

The ‘island’ was an apparent reference to the ‘Epstein island’ where sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is said to have run his sex slavery and paedophilia operation. Epstein was a longtime close friend and associate of US President Donald Trump — an ally of Musk.

Since December, scores of users —most of them females— have reported that Grok has published their photos after digitally removing their clothes through at the request of X users. As a result, Grok, X, and Musk have been condemned and scrutinised worldwide for letting users generate sexually explicit deepfakes of real persons without their consent. As France and the European Union (EU) have opened investigations into the matter, Musk has ramped up his anti-EU rhetoric.

Investigating child sexual abuse material isn’t controversial.

Turning it into political theater is manipulation.

Maybe that logic flies on some island. Doesn’t fly in France. https://t.co/A8WsRXjHuC — French Response (@FrenchResponse) February 3, 2026

Additionally, Musk has also called France “tyrant” and his allies have accused its authorities of pursuing “totalitarianism”.

Even as Musk and his allies have downplayed the deepfakes’ issue, an analysis by New York Times and Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that Grok posted more than 4.4 million images in just nine days and 44 per cent of them likely contained sexually explicit images of women.

Overall, CCDH found that around 65 per cent of these images contained sexually explicit images — of men, women, and children.

Musk and his far-right American allies have long pursued an anti-EU agenda. Previously, he has overtly supported anti-EU, far-right parties across Europe, such as AfD in Germany and Reform UK in the United Kingdom. Separately, the Trump has publicly supported far-right parties in Europe in their campaigns against centrists in their respective countries. It has so far overtly supported AfD in Germany, National Rally in France, and Law and Justice in Poland.