Musk calls raid on X’s French offices a 'political attack'

ISTANBUL

US tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday described a search conducted by French authorities at the Paris offices of his social media platform X as a “political attack.”

Musk made the remark in response to a statement from X’s Global Government Affairs, which said the search was carried out “in connection with a politicized criminal investigation into alleged manipulation of algorithms and purported fraudulent data extraction.”

“We are disappointed by this development, but we are not surprised,” the statement said.

It added that the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office is “plainly attempting to exert pressure” on X’s senior management in the United States by “targeting our French entity and employees, who are not the focus of this investigation.”

Earlier, the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit announced it had carried out a search at X’s French premises as part of an ongoing investigation.

The probe, opened in January 2025, focuses on the platform’s algorithmic operations.