French prosecutors yesterday opened a criminal investigation into Elon Musk and X, escalating a probe into sexual images of minors and other alleged illegal content on Musk’s social network.
The action came three months after French law enforcement authorities raided X’s Paris office and summoned Musk for questioning.
Prosecutors wanted to interview Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino in April, but they did not appear.
Authorities are now seeking to compel them to appear for questioning with the threat of criminal charges.
“Prosecutors said Thursday that the probe was now an official criminal investigation,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.
If either Musk or Yaccarino fails to appear, they can be slapped with the preliminary criminal charges in their absence, the prosecutors said.”.
X previously “refused to comply with a court order to hand over its algorithm,” according to Le Monde. »