French authorities launch a criminal investigation into X over allegations of algorithmic manipulation

French authorities have launched a criminal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, over allegations of algorithmic manipulation to facilitate foreign interference. The Paris prosecutor’s office has confirmed that the national gendarmerie’s cybercrime unit will spearhead the probe.

In a statement, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that the investigation targets both X as a corporate entity and unnamed individuals connected to the platform. 

The probe is centered on two serious potential offenses: the “alteration of the operation” of an automated data processing system, and the “fraudulent extraction of data” from such a system, allegedly carried out “by an organized group.” 

These charges suggest authorities are examining whether coordinated efforts were made to manipulate the platform’s algorithm and extract data that could compromise national or democratic integrity.

French MP claims against X 

In February, two reports came in from the cybercrime section of the Paris prosecutor’s office about how the social network was allegedly using algorithm manipulation for foreign interference. This made Laure Beccuau’s office start its first investigation into X.

Also, both an unnamed senior official from a French public institution described by French media as a cybersecurity manager and a member of parliament called Éric Bothorel made these claims.

On Friday, Eric Bothorel welcomed news of the investigation moving forward, saying that they come “at a time when the new Grok update seems to be tipping over to the dark side of the force, with a predominance of questionable, even nauseating, content.”

Suite à la communication du @parquetdeParis relative au dossier #X #Twitter et la nouvelle orientation que prend l’enquête notamment sur l'usage des algorithmes de X "à des fins d'ingérence étrangère", voici mon communiqué ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/GWXNw1B2GR

— Éric Bothorel #FreeCécileKohler (@ebothorel) July 11, 2025

X took down the automatic account for its AI chatbot on July 9 after it spread antisemitic stories on Tuesday afternoon, which wasn’t the first time it happened. 

Eric Bothorel said that he filed his report as an MP, but also as a citizen who does not want Moscow, Silicon Valley, or anyone else to distort democratic conversations. “I was convinced that information bias, which is particularly strong on the X platform, was serving Elon Musk’s political opinions, and that this could only be achieved through algorithmic manipulation,” the elected official stated.

As the prosecutor for Paris, Beccuau has led cases involving the hacking site BreachForums. She is also in charge of the ongoing legal investigation into Telegram and its CEO, Pavel Durov, who was arrested on suspicion of helping criminals use the app. 

Since then, Durov has been permitted by the court to leave France for Dubai, but the probe is still going on. This is proof that Musk and X are up for a run.

European Commission to open investigation into Grok 

Meanwhile, the European Commission is in touch with X about this issue.  Some European lawmakers and the Polish government pressed the European Commission to open an investigation into Grok under the EU’s flagship online safety rules. In Turkey, Grok has been banned for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his late mother.

The reason for this is that there is also a lot of damaging and offensive content in these sets, like hate speech and even material about sexually abusing children on the internet. Because the data sets are so big, getting rid of all of this information would be very hard and time-consuming.

Grok can also see all of X’s data, which is something other robots can’t do. This makes it more likely that it will repeat content from the platform.

Still, Musk has not been swayed. On Thursday, as CEO of Tesla, he revealed that Grok would soon be available in all of its cars.

Some people think that the events are in line with Musk’s history of pushing the limits to bring about new ideas. The CEO of a tech company, Katie Harbath, says, “Elon has a reputation of putting stuff out there, getting fast blowback and then making a change.”

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