KUCHENKATHI

NEWS: France has spent 18 months escalating against X and today it declined Tesla FSD The case began with a complaint from Éric Bothorel, a sitting MP in Macron's own party who had been publicly criticizing Musk since 2022. That was January 2025. By July prosecutors had classified X as operating as part of an organized gang. That classification is what unlocked search, wiretap and surveillance powers against the company and its executives. Prosecutors then demanded X's recommendation algorithm. X refused, saying it had a legal right to. The stated reason is the part worth knowing. One of the 2 experts appointed to analyze the data was David Chavalarias, director of the Paris Complex Systems Institute. Chavalarias runs a public campaign called Escape X urging users to leave the platform and co-authored a 2023 Nature paper concluding X's algorithm amplifies toxic content. X said his appointment raised serious questions about the impartiality of the process. The US State Department condemned the investigation publicly, calling the prosecutor activist and pledging to defend against foreign censorship. Prosecutors raided X's Paris offices on February 3 with Europol, by which point the case had widened to cover Grok generated imagery. X called it law enforcement theater. Elon Musk called it a political attack. Both categorically deny the allegations. Today Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the safety trade offs are not yet sufficient to authorize FSD as it stands. He gave 2 reasons. The system allows speeding and in his ministry's reading of the data it does not guarantee optimal driver attention in urban settings or during lane changes, intersections and roundabouts. He offered no figures for either claim. The Dutch RDW, the regulator that ran the testing and issued the approval, said in its own press release that the system is safer than other driver assistance systems. Belgium accepted that finding. So did Denmark, Estonia and Lithuania. Tabarot then closed on French automakers, French suppliers and French AI engineers. "We have real cards to play, and we're ready to play them." He said he will convene the French autonomous vehicle ecosystem this autumn to accelerate deployment of the technology. Talks with the Netherlands and Tesla continue. A ministry representative traveled to the Netherlands last week. (Source: Philippe Tabarot, Paris Prosecutor's Office, X Global Government Affairs and RDW)

🚨 France’s measured stance on FSD is regulatory caution, not a hard stop. • Officials confirm support for advanced driver assistance tech • Hands-on requirement aligns with current Supervised design • Five EU countries already cleared the same system • Path to broader approval runs through shared European data This is a solvable process issue, not a technology barrier.

Also, Grok now available in all of Europe