French Authorities at War with Several Tech Giants

While the EU has just given the green light for age verification on social media and is planning to introduce Chat Control 2 – a permanent and mandatory system that would require mass scanning of all communications – France is taking things a step further. The country’s authorities have targeted both X and Telegram.

On Monday, it was reported that X owner Elon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where authorities are investigating allegations of supposed misconduct related to the platform. According to The Guardian, the investigation involves, among other things, the distribution of child sexual abuse material and so-called deepfakes.

In addition to Musk, Linda Yaccarino, the former CEO of X, has also been called in for ‘voluntary interviews,’ while other employees at the platform are to be questioned as witnesses. However, whether Musk and Yaccarino will actually appear in Paris remains unclear.

“These voluntary interviews with the executives are intended to give them the opportunity to present their position regarding the facts and, where applicable, the compliance measures they plan to implement,” say the prosecutors.

“At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive strategy, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, to the extent that it operates within the national territory.”

The question of whether Musk could face sanctions if he fails to travel to Paris to participate in the proceedings is declined by the prosecutor’s office.

At the same time, French authorities have also taken aim at another tech giant: the encrypted messaging service Telegram and its founder Pavel Durov.

In a statement, Durov says that the investigation against him in France involves more than a “dozen allegations,” each of which could carry up to ten years in prison.

“Macron’s France loses legitimacy when it uses criminal investigations to suppress freedom of speech and privacy,” he writes.

Durov was arrested in France in 2024. French media at the time stated he was detained by a division of the country’s customs agency and was accused of refusing to cooperate with authorities.