French President Emmanuel Macron met on Friday with Twitter CEO Elon Musk and told him the social media company had to comply with the rules of the European Union regarding content moderation and freedom of speech.
During the meeting, which took place in New Orleans while Macron was in the U.S. for a state dinner, the French president reportedly talked to Musk about his handling of the Twitter platform. A number of decisions made by Musk, including the recent move to end Twitter's policy regarding COVID-19 misinformation, have been harshly criticized by E.U. countries, including French officials.
Macron reiterated these concerns during an interview with Good Morning America, calling the recent changes at Twitter a "big issue." Macron added, "What I push very much for is exactly the opposite: more regulation."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Free speech and democracy is based on respect and public order. You can demonstrate, you can have free speech, you can write what you want, but there are responsibilities and limits," Macron added.
However, the meeting between Musk and Macron seemed to go well, Politico reported, with the Twitter CEO reportedly assuring Macron he would abide by the Christchurch Call, an international community aimed at preventing terrorism and extremist activity online.
Following the meeting, Macron tweeted words of encouragement regarding the conversation, describing it as a "clear and honest" talk.
"Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations." Macron said. "We will work with Twitter to improve online child protection."
-
The 8 best dark comedies of the 21st centuryFrom Santa Claus to suicide terrorism, these movies skewered big, taboo subjects
-
France’s ‘red hands’ trial highlights alleged Russian disruption operationsUNDER THE RADAR Attacks on religious and cultural institutions around France have authorities worried about Moscow’s effort to sow chaos in one of Europe’s political centers
-
Crossword: October 30, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust rulingSpeed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
Supreme Court allows social media age check lawSpeed Read The court refused to intervene in a decision that affirmed a Mississippi law requiring social media users to verify their ages
-
What's Linda Yaccarino's legacy? And what's next for X?Today's Big Question An 'uncertain future' in the age of TikTok
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestoneSpeed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two yearsSpeed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on XSpeed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Another Starship blast sets back Musk's Mars hopesSpeed Read Nobody was killed in the explosion, which occurred in south Texas
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
