Musk vs Europe: World’s richest man calls Spanish PM ‘fascist’ as X hits out over French office raid

Statement from X accused prosecutors of carrying out an ‘abusive’ raid of its Paris offices

Elon Musk has slammed Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez as a “true fascist totalitarian” after he proposed a ban on social media use by teenagers, as Europe toughens its stance against tech giants.

In a furious response on his social media site X, the tech billionaire described the Spanish prime minister – who had earlier promised to protect children from the “digital Wild West” – as a “tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain”.

Sanchez had described social media on Tuesday as a “failed state where laws are ignored and crimes are tolerated”, challenging Mr Musk for using X to “amplify disinformation” regarding the decision by Madrid to regularise 500,000 undocumented immigrants.

Elon Musk took to X to label Spain’s PM a ‘true fascist totalitarian’ (AP)

Mr Musk’s tirade came just hours after authorities raided X’s Paris headquarters, prompting the company to hit back at French prosecutors for what it called an “abusive and illegitimate” move.

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s office carried out the raid as part of a cyber crime investigation into alleged manipulation of algorithms, fraudulent data extraction, and the use of the site’s AI chatbot, Grok, to produce child abuse images and sexually explicit deepfakes.

Mr Musk and the former CEO of X Corp, Linda Yaccarino, have also been summoned to a “voluntary” hearing on 20 April.

In a statement to The Independent, X accused French authorities of an “abusive act of law enforcement theatre designed to achieve illegitimate political objectives”. The company did not specify the nature of the political objectives.

Musk’s tirade comes just hours after X’s Paris headquarters were raided (Getty)

The raid marks the first time the tech billionaire has been summoned by prosecutors over the use of Grok, after thousands of sexually explicit images were created of real women without their consent using the AI tool. In mid-January, the company finally implemented “technological measures” to prevent the practice.

Several investigations have since been opened into Grok’s parent company, xAI. The latest such investigation was announced by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after the raid by French police.

Previous investigations had been opened by the European Commission and by the UK’s media and communications regulator, Ofcom.

The full statement, posted from X’s Global Government Affairs team account, read: “French judicial authorities raided X’s Paris office today 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.

PM Pedro Sanchez was accused of being a ‘tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain’ (AP)

“The Paris Public Prosecutor’s office widely publicized the raid—making clear that today’s action was an abusive act of law enforcement theater designed to achieve illegitimate political objectives rather than advance legitimate law enforcement goals rooted in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”

It continued: “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.

“The Prosecutor’s Office has ignored the established procedural mechanisms to obtain evidence in compliance with international treaties and X’s rights to defend itself. These procedural mechanisms are well known and used on a daily basis by judicial authorities around the world.

“The allegations underlying today’s raid are baseless and X categorically denies any wrongdoing. Today’s staged raid reinforces our conviction that this investigation distorts French law, circumvents due process, and endangers free speech. X is committed to defending its fundamental rights and the rights of its users. We will not be intimidated by the actions of French judicial authorities today.”