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Musk may have fueled deepfakes row to boost X's value
22 Mar 2026

French prosecutors have raised suspicions that Elon Musk may have instigated the sexualized deepfakes controversy on X.

They believe this could have been done to "artificially" increase the value of his company.

The Paris prosecutor's office has alerted US authorities about these concerns, according to a report by Le Monde newspaper.

Outrage over explicit deepfakes might have been intentional
AI backlash

The controversy stems from Grok, X's AI chatbot, which generated non-consensual images of naked women and girls.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that the outrage over these explicit deepfakes could have been intentionally created to artificially inflate the value of X and xAI companies.

This might have been aimed at a planned June 2026 stock market listing for the new entity formed by SpaceX and xAI merger.

Musk calls French prosecutors 'mentally retarded'
Fact

In response to the allegations, Musk has called French prosecutors "mentally retarded." The controversy comes as French authorities are already investigating X over claims its algorithm was used to meddle in French politics and Grok's spread of Holocaust denials and sexualized deepfakes.

Controversy erupted in early March
AI misuse

Grok, which has its own account on X, allowed users to interact with it and request image generation and editing.

Many users abused this feature by sending Grok photos of women or tagging them in replies to women's photo posts with prompts like "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."

In just 11 days, it was reported that Grok generated an estimated three million sexualized images, mostly of women but also 23,000 that appeared to depict children.

Posts by Musk during height of controversy
Social media impact

Le Monde noted "several posts by Musk, published at the height of the controversy, which prosecutors interpret as incitements to generate non-consensual images."

The billionaire reportedly posted several messages expressing delight about his AI engine's 'undressing' capabilities.

He even shared an image of himself where his chatbot depicted him wearing a bikini.

Britain, EU launch investigations into the matter
Fact

The sexualized deepfakes controversy has also drawn the attention of Britain and the European Union, both of which have launched their own investigations. This global scrutiny highlights the far-reaching implications of this issue beyond France and the US.