France and Spain are flexing their muscles against Platform X. The allegations are serious. Now owner Elon Musk is supposed to testify in Paris.
02/04/2026, 04:5402/04/2026, 04:56
Christoph Cöln / t-online
Plenty of headwind for Elon Musk from Europe. In France, the tech billionaire and former Trump confidant receives a summons from the public prosecutor. The French judiciary also had the premises of Platform X in Paris searched. The allegations against Musk are serious.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.Image: keystone
Resistance to social media is also emerging in Spain. There, the government of left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is planning to ban the platforms based on the Australian model. “Spain is now putting its words into action,” said Sánchez at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
This includes banning access to social media for minors under 16, ending impunity for social platform managers who do not comply with deletion orders, and creating a system to trace hate comments. Sánchez initially left it open how this would be achieved.
This apparently pissed off Elon Musk. The X owner then rudely insulted the head of government. In a post on the platform he literally wrote: “Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain.” (“Dirty Sánchez is a tyrant and a traitor to the Spanish people.”). He put a poop emoji behind it.
In the post, he included excerpts from Sánchez’s speech in Dubai, which discussed, among other things, the intended criminal prosecution of managers in the event of legal violations on their platforms.
Social media like a “failed state”
In his speech, Sánchez compared social media, among other things, to a “failed state” “in which laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated”. There is already a corresponding initiative in the Spanish Parliament by Sánchez’s minority government for age restrictions, which is also fundamentally supported by the largest opposition party, the conservative People’s Party PP. However, many detailed questions are still unresolved.
If the planned measures endanger the profit prospects of large US tech companies and those responsible also face criminal consequences, Spain could also incur the wrath of US President Donald Trump. Sánchez emphasized that there would be a “zero tolerance policy” towards any form of external coercion.
Meanwhile, the French justice system has had X’s premises in Paris searched. As part of ongoing investigations against the social network, subpoenas were also sent to the tech billionaire and the former X boss Linda Yaccarino. The two are scheduled to appear for questioning in the French capital on April 20, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said. Musk spoke of a “political attack” at X.
What are the investigations against X in France about?
The Paris public prosecutor’s office has been investigating X for around a year because of allegations that algorithms on the social network were changed to give more attention to right-wing extremist content.
There have also recently been allegations of Holocaust denial and sexualized images. This involves images of women and children created by the AI chatbot Grok, so-called deepfakes. Deepfakes are videos, images or audio files created using AI that appear deceptively real, but are not.
Paris wants Platform X to operate in accordance with the law
The investigation took a constructive approach and aimed to ensure that Platform X operated in France in accordance with French law, said Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
The summons to Musk and Yaccarino should give them the opportunity to present their position and, if necessary, the planned measures to comply with the regulations. It was said that employees of the European police authority Europol were also present during the search.
How does the Paris justice system subpoena Musk?
The public prosecutor’s office did not specify what status Musk and Yaccarino have in the investigation. Both would be summoned in their capacity as de facto and legal directors of Platform X at the time of the allegations. The public prosecutor added that employees of the platform should also be summoned as witnesses from April 20th to 24th.
X replied that the allegations were “unfounded”. The company denies “any wrongdoing.” The search endangers freedom of speech and X wants to defend its own basic rights and those of the users.
Musk is known for right-wing political views. He has long claimed that freedom of speech regarding such opinions is being restricted in Europe. He received partial support from US Vice President JD Vance.
Pressure also from the EU on X
Recently, the EU also increased the pressure on Platform X. In the course of investigations, the EU Commission asked the US company at the beginning of the year not to destroy internal documents on the artificial intelligence Grok, but to keep them until the end of the year. There are doubts as to whether the company adheres to European digital laws. An EU Commission spokesman emphasized at the beginning of January:
“We have observed Grok generating anti-Semitic content and, more recently, sexual depictions of children. This is illegal. This is unacceptable.”
Deactivating Grok in the EU is not the aim of the EU Commission and is more of a last resort. “We are not here to tell citizens which platform is safer or better to use,” the spokesman said.
Investigations also in Great Britain
In view of the investigations that have been ongoing for years, critics have long accused the EU of not enforcing its digital rules consistently enough. At the same time, the US government of President Donald Trump claims that Brussels is practicing censorship.
Shortly before Christmas, Washington imposed entry bans on former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton and other Europeans in response to European measures. Breton is an architect of EU digital laws.
Meanwhile, in Great Britain, the data protection commissioner opened an investigation into sexualized images and videos by the AI chatbot Grok on the X platform. The move follows reports of Grok creating such images without the consent of those affected, including children, said a statement from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had previously harshly condemned the images.
«That’s a shame. It’s disgusting. And it must not be tolerated.”
Ban is also an issue in Switzerland and Germany
Dealing with the social media giants is also being hotly debated in Germany. However, there have been no comparable investigations in the Grok case so far. Following a request from the dpa news agency, the Federal Network Agency referred to the responsibilities. The supervisory person at the provider’s headquarters in the EU – in the case of X, Ireland – and the EU Commission are responsible for X. Information about illegal content would be forwarded there, it was said.
In Australia, children and young people under the age of 16 have recently been banned from having their own social media accounts on many major platforms. In Great Britain, the House of Lords also voted last week for a social media ban up to the age of 16, which now has to go through the House of Commons. In Denmark, the government agreed with the opposition to introduce a national age limit of 15 for access to certain social media.
In Switzerland, a social media ban for those under 16 is also an issue. Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider was open to this at the end of 2025. However, the Federal Commission for Children and Youth Issues EKKJ speaks out against a blanket ban out of. Instead, she prefers a mixture of sometimes stricter rules, promotion of media literacy and legal regulation of the large online platform as well as more shared responsibility for it.
Streaming portals are also being targeted
Resistance to US digital companies is growing significantly across Europe. And other US giants are also being targeted by European governments. There is still a debate in the German government about whether Germany should oblige American streaming portals such as Netflix, Amazon or Disney to make compulsory investments in the German film industry. As the “Bild” newspaper, among others, is now reporting, there are said to be major reservations about this in parts of the federal government. There is considerable resistance to the project planned by the SPD Finance Ministry, particularly from the CDU/CSU.
Accordingly, the government fears retaliation from the US administration under Donald Trump. German diplomats in Washington warn that such a compulsory levy on US companies could “have a negative impact on German-American relations.” And further:
“In view of the various challenges for German interests in bilateral relations with the USA, we should consider whether we are prepared to potentially open up a further flank.”
Financial politicians expect the investment obligation for American streaming services to strengthen Germany as a film location. However, Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer is critical of the compulsory levy. He fears a “significant increase in bureaucracy and costs” for the state as well as possible lawsuits from US companies. Weimer is therefore relying on “voluntary investments” from the streaming giants. (t-online/dpa/con)
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