Latest news with #FrenchProsecutor
CNA
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Paris prosecutors ask police to join investigation of Musk's X
PARIS :A French probe into Elon Musk's social media platform X deepened on Friday, when the Paris prosecutor's office said it had enlisted police to investigate suspected abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction by the company or its executives. The move adds to the pressure on Musk, a former ally of U.S. President Donald Trump who has accused European governments of attacking free speech and has also voiced support for some of the region's far-right parties. French police could conduct searches, wiretaps and surveillance against Musk and X executives, or summon them to testify. If they do not comply, a judge could issue an international arrest warrant. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Paris prosecutors launched a preliminary probe in January, after receiving complaints of alleged foreign interference by X from a lawmaker and a senior French official, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement. On July 9, after preliminary findings provided by researchers and French public institutions, they asked police to investigate X "as both a legal entity and through individual persons". The alleged crimes are "organised interference with the functioning of an automated data processing system" and "organised fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system". Paris prosecutors' latest investigation of powerful tech figures may deepen a rift between Washington and European capitals over what sort of discourse is permitted online. Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of the Telegram messaging app, is under judicial supervision in France after being arrested last year and placed under formal investigation for alleged organised crime on the app. He denies guilt. Durov's arrest, which Musk criticised, ignited a debate about free speech that has been taken up by senior Trump officials. Musk has used X to personally support right-wing parties and causes in France, Germany and Britain. After months in lockstep with Trump, he recently broke with the president over his federal budget, and he is now launching his own political party.
Al Arabiya
25-06-2025
- Al Arabiya
Belgian policeman among two dead in France after cross-border car chase
Two people -- a Belgian police officer and the driver of a speeding vehicle he and other colleagues had pursued across the border -- have died after being hit by another car in northeastern France, police and a prosecutor said Wednesday. Three Belgian police cars had chased the speeding car, suspected of carrying drugs, from Belgium into France late on Tuesday, French police said. The pursued vehicle stopped on a road close to Angevillers, a French town located 40 km (25 miles) away from the Belgian border, at around 10:45 pm on Tuesday evening. A driver and passenger sprinted out of the vehicle, and Belgian police officers ran after them. Another car then hit and killed the driver and one policeman as they ran across the road, a local French prosecutor said. Belgian federal police confirmed that 'a colleague from the road police' had died during an intervention on the D14 road 'just beyond the French border.' The French prosecutor said the car had refused to comply with a traffic stop on the Belgian side of the border, then 'got rid of drugs' during the car chase. Belgian police found them and handed them over to French investigators, he added. The passenger has been arrested.
