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Elon Musk's X platform investigated in
France for alleged data tampering and fraud
[July 12, 2025]
PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors have launched a police
investigation into alleged data tampering and fraud involving X, Elon
Musk’s social media platform.
The Paris prosecutor's office, in a statement Friday, announced the
opening of the investigation, and said that a branch of the French
gendarmerie is conducting the inquiry. |
An "X" sign rests atop the company headquarters, formerly known as
Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, July 28, 2023. (AP
Photo/Noah Berger, File) |
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The
investigation is looking into two alleged offenses “in
particular” — organized tampering with the functioning of an
automated data processing system, and organized fraudulent
extraction of data from an automated data processing system, the
statement said.
It didn't give details of the alleged wrongdoing. It said that
the investigation is targeting both the platform and people,
without naming them or saying what role they might have within
X.
The prosecutor's office said that it was acting on information
that two people provided in January to its cybercrimes unit. One
of them is a member of parliament, and the other is a senior
official in a French government institution. It didn't identify
them or the institution.
It said the two people alleged the suspected use of X’s
algorithm for the “purposes of foreign interference.” It didn't
detail the alleged interference or how the algorithm was
allegedly used.
The prosecutor’s office said that it decided this week to open
the police investigation, after conducting its own
"verifications” and having received additional information from
French researchers and “various public institutions.”
The Associated Press has emailed X's press office, seeking
comment.
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Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from London.
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