The French cybercrime police raided the Paris offices of X, and there’s enough schadenfreude to power the web – 23 top reactions
So-called genius Elon Musk and his many enterprises may feel untouchable in the US, where the multi-billionaire receives vast quantities of public funding to prop up his tech empire, but he’s just had a wake-up call from Europe.
Paris prosecutors raid the French offices of Elon Musk’s X as part of an investigation into spreading child pornography and deepfakes.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) February 3, 2026 at 11:03 AM
In a statement on their now-deleted X account, the Paris prosecutor’s office said –
‘A search is under way by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office, the national police cyber unit and Europol.’
As well as a year-long investigation into manipulation of the X feed to benefit far-right political positions, and potentially fraudulent use of data, offences now on the table include those relating to Grok’s creation of sexualised images of both adults and children.
Nice!
"The operation, which involves EU police agency Europol, is part of an investigation opened in January 2025 into whether X's algorithm had been used to interfere in French politics."
— Berit Glanz (@beritmiriam.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Ironically, considering the allegations, Musk coloured it as a political attack.
If you could power the world on schadenfreude, fossil fuels would be a thing of the past.
1.
I love the fact that France is no respecter of billionaires. 🇫🇷
— Citizen Paul Templeman (@paultempleman.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 2:01 PM
2.
Wow so it turns out you can just… use the coercive power of the state to try to protect people from tech sociopathy
— Nathan K. Hensley (@nathankhensley.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 12:50 PM
3.
1/ Trump may of course respond to this by freaking out and issuing all sorts of tariff threats.
However as with giving up Greenland I really don't think the EU can afford the precedent of a criminal investigation at the member state level being unwound through threats to tax US citizen purchases.
— Dmitry Grozoubinski (@explaintrade.com) February 3, 2026 at 10:34 AM
4.
Allons-y!
— Lyndsey Stonebridge (@lyndseystonebri.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 10:32 AM
5.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
<inhales>
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
— * There Are Bot (@diogeneslamp.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 4:15 PM
6.
Breaking: The number 1 detective in Paris has been dispatched to Elon Musk's offices.
— Matthew Highton (@matthighton.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 12:25 PM
7.
Cue horror, threats, outrage that one of these oligarchs should actually be subject to the law.
— Paul Russell (@pwrussell.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 10:20 AM
8.
Sane, rational, measured response incoming…
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article…
— Jason (@nickmotown.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 10:16 AM
9.
Not coming here?😬
— Tony Yates (@t0nyyates.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 12:02 PM
10.
Deal with it.
— G. Digital (@gdigital.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 1:29 PM
11.
I can’t wait to see Twitter killed in Europe. Elon will be pissed
— Taco Bell Tokyo-3 (@tacobelltokyo3.bsky.social) February 3, 2026 at 11:18 AM
12.
Get his ass.
— Comfortably Numb (@numb.comfortab.ly) February 3, 2026 at 12:27 PM