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French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said he had a "clear and honest" discussion with Twitter owner Elon Musk during an unannounced face-to-face meeting in New Orleans, AFP reported.

Macron tweeted that he voiced concerns about content moderation on the highly influential platform, which Musk, who also owns electric car giant Tesla, bought for $44 billion in October.

"I'll say it here, on Twitter, because it's all about the blue bird. This afternoon I met with (Musk) and we had a clear and honest discussion," Macron tweeted after the hour-long, closed-door sit-down at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

He said he and the Tesla CEO discussed “future green industrial projects, such as manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries,” and also the social media platform.

"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.

In another tweet the president added France and Twitter would be working together to improve online child protection on the platform.

The meeting came as Musk is facing pressure over his plans for Twitter and the site's ability to control hate speech and illegal content.

Musk has sacked thousands of employees since he took control of the company, with teams responsible for content moderation reduced drastically.

In line with our ambition for decarbonizing and reindustrializing France and Europe, with @elonmusk we exchanged on future green industrial projects, such as manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries. pic.twitter.com/uolbo1mTzg

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 2, 2022