France requests Musk to set up Tesla factory in country weeks after threatening Twitter with ban

France is leaving no stone unturned to convince US billionaire Elon Musk to set up Tesla’s next Gigafactory in the country, Digital Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Wednesday. This comes just weeks after he threatened Musk-owned Twitter with a ban over the European Union’s new tech regulation. France is organising its flagship technology conference Viva Tech Summit this Friday, and top government officials from Paris as well as Elon Musk will mark their presence at the event.

France over the past few years has pitched itself as the best destination to produce electric cars, with the country recently opening its first battery manufacturing facility. Paris wants to realise its ambitions of reindustrialising the country and catch up with Chinese manufacturers in the booming sector.

A meeting between Musk and French President Emmanuel Macron is also on the cards. “We’re going to talk about artificial intelligence, in which he is involved, social media, regulation framework… And then I’ll also talk to him about cars, batteries, to promote French and European attractiveness,” Macron told the media on Wednesday.

Musk actively looking for a Gigafactory location in Europe

Elon Musk is actively hunting for an apt location to set up Tesla’s next Gigafactory in Europe, with other manufacturing facilities already present in US, Germany and China.

“It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France, there has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible and this can happen,” Jean-Noel Barrot was quoted as saying by CNBC. “We have also invested in an … entire sector of electric batteries so we will try to convince him that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory,” Barrot added.

Watch: Elon Musk launches new AI start up

While showering praises on Elon Musk, France’s digital minister described him as a “great inventor, probably one of the greatest of the beginning of this century.”

Ongoing tussle between Twitter and Paris

While Jean-Noel Barrot attempted to cajole Musk into pouring in massive investments in France, his message to the US tycoon in relation to Twitter was strikingly opposite. The minister recently stated that if Twitter fails to adhere to the upcoming Digital Services Act of the European Union (EU), the social media app could be banned in the EU. 

This act, which comes into effect in August, will require major tech companies, including Twitter, to take more proactive measures in combating illegal content and disinformation on their platforms. Failure to do so could result in significant fines amounting to billions of dollars. Should Twitter fail to comply, it could face sanctions of up to 6% of its global sales. If the company’s non-compliance persists, it may be compelled to leave the EU entirely.