In the greatest of secrets, Emmanuel Macron took advantage of his American tour to meet Elon Musk in New Orleans. On site to celebrate the Francophonie, the President of the Republic took the opportunity to chat for an hour with the new boss of Twitter.
Away from the media, the two men discussed several topics related to the multiple companies of the earthy billionaire. But what exactly were they talking about?
First of “future green industrial projects, such as the production of electric vehicles and batteries” mentions the President of the Republic on his Twitter account. Of the “exciting projects in France” replied Elon Musk who said to himself ” eager “ and honored to see Emmanuel Macron again.
In line with our ambition to decarbonise and reindustrialise France and Europe, I spoke today with @elonmusk on future green industrial projects, in particular on the manufacture of electric vehicles and batteries. pic.twitter.com/oMwcejKGx6
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 3, 2022
But most of the discussions apparently revolved around Twitter and the moderation policy that the billionaire intends to put in place. “Twitter must make the effort to comply with European regulations” indicated on Twitter the Head of State, referring in particular to “transparent terms of use, (a) significant strengthening of content moderation (and the) protection of freedom of expression”.
We will work with Twitter to improve the protection of children online. Elon Musk confirmed it to me today. Let’s better protect our children online! https://t.co/G31YgUFV6c
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 3, 2022
“Absolutely” replies Elon Musk
In response to this unequivocal tweet, Elon Musk replied with a brief but very clear ” Absolutely “ that everyone will interpret as they see fit. The billionaire had already shown himself to be docile, to say the least, in the face of European Commissioner Thierry Breton in a video that had caused a stir on… Twitter. We saw an Elon Musk playing the model student in front of a firm commissioner regarding the demands of the European authorities in terms of moderation.
Today @elonmusk and I wanted to share a quick message with you on platform regulation 🇪🇺#DSA pic.twitter.com/nvP5FEXECY
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) May 9, 2022
Moderation, precisely, gives sweats to the one who bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars just a few weeks ago. At the controls of the blue bird, Elon Musk has already made strong decisions, such as the dismissal of more than half of the employees, including the content moderation teams. Elon Musk prefers to automate this task using algorithms.
Problem: according to several NGOs, racist, homophobic, misogynistic and anti-Semitic messages have increased dramatically. “shocking” on Twitter says the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “Completely wrong” responds Elon Musk following the publication of an article by New York Times.
Yet the facts are there. No sooner had he taken over the reins of the social network than Elon Musk invoked democracy by asking his followers to vote for the return of Donald Trump on Twitter. “The people have decided” he declared before reactivating the account of the former President of the United States, suspended following multiple comments that did not meet the rules of the social network.
A few weeks later, Elon Musk suspended manu militari Kanye West’s account for “incitement to violence” after he made admiring remarks about Hitler. Same sentence for Alex Jones, an American far-right conspirator ‘convicted for claiming school massacre was just an anti-gun staged show’ recalls Les Echos.
A decision based on personal experience. Marked by the death of his first child, Elon Musk explained to be “mercilessly to anyone who uses child deaths for (gain) financial, political or reputational gain”.
It is therefore difficult to understand how the billionaire intends to frame the moderation of Twitter. For the moment, the rules of the social network seem to be dictated by his personal opinions. But the new European rules are not always in line with his libertarian vision. It remains to be seen now if Elon Musk will comply with the rules. Or if he intends to “do Elon Musk”.
