Yes, it probably will get down-voted but because of all-encompassing statements like "the EU has no digital economy, they know it, and their citizens don't want to be without US tech" and "make Euro citizens choose - the apps they like, or EU bureaucracy", not because the EU "woke" skinny jeans wearing mob controls HN and wants to make you a freedom loving martyr.
Exactly. When I'm doing anything with money here in Germany, like creating a bank account, or borrowing money, I have to answer multiple questions about me being a citizen of the USA or not. Why is that? Because everyone adheres to USA law. But this should work both ways.
> When I'm doing anything with money here in Germany, like creating a bank account, or borrowing money, I have to answer multiple questions about me being a citizen of the USA or not. Why is that? Because everyone adheres to USA law.
Simple: the USA assumes global jurisdiction over anything involving the US dollar and they do not shy away from muscling over US-local branches of foreign companies to get their will.
Good point, but not entirely true. It's not that Germans have to adhere to US law, but that US fines can be outrageously high and German institutions want to keep that risk in check. Insurance premiums are a lot higher if you do business with people from/selling to the US.
It's actually worse since the company that this opinion talks about is an _EU_ company (Meta platforms Ireland Limited). The fine is based on the global revenue but the company being targeted here, and the company that didn't follow EU laws, is an EU company.
ohh, how would the EU survive, the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient US tech that has improved our lives beyond recognition, and we are eternally grateful to the tech gods.
Fun fact: there was a thriving competition between social platforms in Germany before Facebook came in as an established US player and squashed the rest. There was actually a tendency towards purpose-built social networks (more akin to what we've been seeing recently) until Facebook. They also didn't rely on the same kind of algorithmic advertisement which meant they had to come up with more interesting ways to sustain themselves, which of course turned out to be a market disadvantage when directly competing against a US company that thinks privacy is the name of a place in France.
Constraints foster innovation. If US online services companies were unable to operate (directly or via subsidiaries) legally in the EU market, this could actually create an advantage for EU (and especially DACH) companies. Remember that the US has literally fought wars and orchestrated regime changes to convince countries to let its companies operate in them.
You're not being downvoted because people don't like what you have to say, you're being downvoted because your grandstanding demonstrates a lack of knowledge of basic economics and legal knowledge.
The company at stake here is not Meta Platforms in the US but Meta Platforms Ireland Limited in the EU, a subsidiary. That company exists for tax avoidance reasons but it's the company operating every Meta app in the EU according to its apps' EU terms of service.
How about US companies get to choose - keep abusing the human rights of their users, or continue to operate and do business in a Western market with 440 million consumers.
Of course the CLOUD Act and its harmful consequences to international trade for American online services companies are another topic but I doubt you're defending the warrantless secret surveillance that one enables.
