When billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter, which he later renamed X, he did so with the promise of restoring free speech to social media.
In the years that followed, Musk has increasingly become the target of leftists around the world who believe they should be allowed to shut down any forum that hosts views they don’t like.
And X remains a target of these activists, as evidenced recently in France.
But for its part, the US Department of Justice isn’t playing along, per The Hill:
The Journal reported that the DOJ’s Office of International Affairs accused authorities of attempting to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate a “public square for the free expression of ideas and opinions in a manner contrary to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” citing a two-page letter dated Friday.
The letter comes just over two months after the X offices in France were raided as part of a probe launched last January into allegations of bias in its content algorithm.
X slammed the raid in a February statement as an “abusive act of law enforcement theater,” framing it as politically motivated rather than “rooted in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”
“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 company said.
Meanwhile, social media users appropriately used Musk’s platform to debate the issue:
lol you wish. I say he cuts off X to the French and you can deal with your citizens revolting.
— 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚢 🇺🇸☝🏼 (@HarleyMonster) April 19, 2026
This is just the common sense take. 🎯
Instead of going after Elon Musk’s platform, France should REALLY worry about their own problems, such as the fact that their men need the PERMISSION OF A JUDGE to find out if their children are even theirs! 🤣🤡 pic.twitter.com/FknfQb1CTO
— Blueblur (@Blueblur_23) April 18, 2026
Well done America! Western Europe is really becoming the Socialist totalitarian block just like Eastern Europe was under the Soviets… it's ironic, isn't it. The individual's rights are completely being erased for the benefit of the EU beaurocrats, like the Comunist party…
— Velko Todorov (@TodorovVelko) April 19, 2026
CNBC also reported on the Trump administration’s response:
X and Musk have come under scrutiny from regulators and governments in several countries since his takeover of the platform, with authorities examining issues including content moderation, data practices and compliance with local laws.
ADVERTISEMENTProsecutors have said the investigation centers on whether X’s algorithms distorted the treatment of content on the platform and whether the company improperly extracted user data, after complaints from French lawmakers and advocacy groups.
“We are grateful to the Justice Department for rejecting this effort by a prosecutor in Paris to compel our CEO and several employees to sit for interviews,” an xAI official told the WSJ, adding that xAI hopes the prosecutors “recognize that there is no wrongdoing here, and terminate their baseless investigation.”
Here’s some additional background coverage of the ongoing French probe:
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