French authorities have searched the Paris offices of X and summoned the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, in a move that has intensified concerns over state pressure on online speech.
The raid—carried out on February 3rd by French cybercrime investigators with the involvement of Europol—forms part of an investigation into whether X’s recommendation algorithm was used to influence domestic politics. The probe was opened last year after a lawmaker from President Emmanuel Macron’s party accused Musk of improper “personal interventions” in the platform’s management.
French economist Philippe Murer described the accusations against the platform as “extremely serious,” adding that officials “want to censor Twitter and eliminate freedom of expression.”
Swedish journalist Peter Imanuelsen added that searches like those carried out against X are “what happens in Europe when you don’t bow down to censorship.”
Pavel Durov, CEO of the messaging service Telegram, has previously condemned French officials, and the EU more broadly, for waging a political campaign to silence dissent and tighten state control over digital platforms. Following today’s raids, he said that “France is the only country in the world that is criminally persecuting all social networks that give people some degree of freedom (Telegram, X, TikTok…),” adding:
Don’t be mistaken: this is not a free country.
Musk has yet to publicly comment on the searches, and on his call-up for a ‘voluntary interview’ with French prosecutors.
The raid comes as Britain’s data regulator opened a probe into X over sexual imagery generated by artificial intelligence. Officials said “the reported creation and circulation of such content raises serious concerns under UK data protection law and presents a risk of significant potential harm to the public.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
