Regulators raid X in France; Dubai launches Musk tunnel

Prosecutors in Paris carried out a search on Tuesday at the French offices of X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, as part of a broad preliminary investigation led by the cybercrime unit. The probe, opened in January 2025, is examining a range of suspected offences on the platform, including the dissemination of child sexual abuse material and sexually explicit deepfakes.

The investigation is also looking at alleged denial of crimes against humanity, manipulation and fraudulent extraction of data from automated systems, and the operation of an illegal online platform by an organised group. Authorities said the aim at this stage is to work constructively to ensure X complies with French law while operating in the country.

As part of the process, prosecutors have requested “voluntary interviews” with Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who led the company between 2023 and 2025. Those interviews are scheduled for 20 April, with other X employees summoned in the same week to be heard as witnesses.

The inquiry initially stemmed from a complaint by a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. It has since been expanded after reports that X’s AI chatbot Grok was involved in denying the Holocaust and spreading sexually explicit deepfakes. X has not publicly commented on the raid, and prosecutors have said they are leaving the platform, asking followers to move to other social media services.

In a separate factbox, the Paris prosecutor’s office outlined the specific potential crimes now under scrutiny. These include complicity in the possession of images of minors of a pornographic nature, and complicity in the organised distribution, offering or making available of such images.

Investigators are also examining possible defamation of a person’s image via sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity in the form of Holocaust denial, and fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system by an organised group.

Further allegations relate to falsification of the operation of an automated data processing system by an organised group and the operation of an illegal online platform by an organised group. No charges have yet been announced, and the investigation remains at the preliminary stage.

Separately in the United Arab Emirates, officials confirmed that the first phase of the Dubai Loop project, an underground high‑speed transport network to be built by Musk’s Boring Company, is set to begin immediately. Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, said the full project will cover 24km at an overall cost of nearly 2.5 billion dirhams (about $680.8m).

The initial phase will involve 6km of tunnelling at a cost of 600 million dirhams. According to Al Tayer, the entire project is scheduled for completion within two years. The scheme is intended to create a high‑speed underground transport corridor in Dubai, though detailed operational timelines and service specifications were not disclosed.