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X marks the raid: French cops swoop on Musk's Paris ops

The Register · Connor Jones · last updated

Algorithmic bias probe continues, CEO and former boss summoned to defend the platform’s corner

French police raided Elon Musk’s X offices in Paris this morning as part of a criminal investigation into alleged algorithmic manipulation by foreign powers.

The Paris prosecutor’s office (Parquet de Paris) announced [PDF] the action on Tuesday. The investigation, which began in January 2025, stems from two complaints — one from a French parliament member and another from a senior official at an unnamed public institution.

Prosecutors are investigating allegations of organized disruption of automated data processing systems and fraudulent data extraction, in essence, whether X allowed foreign powers to manipulate its algorithm.

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