[Frannky]

It's interesting how there may be an implicit assumption that imposing more rules on tech will lead to positive outcomes. From my perspective, technology is like reality itself: very difficult to control, with countless ways to achieve the desired result while circumventing the rules. And what's the actual result? Just look at the market capitalization of European companies compared to US companies... Or maybe it just feels good to add new rules and engage in virtue-signaling contests. Or maybe it's just a way to make everything illegal—'find me the person, and I'll find you the crime' type of control. Maybe a combination of all those. Who knows? From my experience, the farther you get from the influence of bureaucrats, the happier life becomes...

[mattlutze]

The regulatory frameworks in the EU are intentionally not designed like the US, to maximize company profits over e.g. human rights and health.

It is thoroughly documented that social media and the modern web are designed to be addictive, by psychologists who specialize in this. We regulate access to other addictive things, because addictive things break humans' normal control systems.

> "the farther you get from the influence of bureaucrats, the happier life becomes"

only when things are "normal" and if you're a default power-holder in a community. For everyone else, really no.

[pyrale]

> Just look at the market capitalization of European companies compared to US companies...

Counterexample: just look at the state of EU tech companies compared to Chinese tech companies.

I’m not saying China is an attractive example, but chalking up Europe’s tech issues to a regulation problem fails to address europe’s digital woes.

[Tade0]

> Just look at the market capitalization of European companies compared to US companies...

A huge portion of that market cap exists only because the companies in question are allowed to act unethically. Aside from that, all this wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small minority.

Ultimately the economy exists to serve us, not the other way around. What good all that market cap does for the average American?

[Nemo_bis]

Indeed the cat and mouse game is tedious... There's a case to be made that you should just act on the root cause of all these issues with a neutral policy tool. The best tested of all regulatory tools is taxation. Reduce the profit motive slightly and many of these aberrations nobody likes will go away.

[mzhaase]

Instead of market capitalization, have you looked at comparisons for happiness?

[nullderef]

Or even lifespan… It’s crazy that USA is so ahead in tech yet life expectancy is 78 versus 81 in Germany or 84 in Spain

[jeandejean]

Aren't you happy that when you buy food, it doesn't contain cocaine? Regulations are totally necessary and addictive online social media is a well documented plague in our youths especially.

This very US lobbyists narrative that Europe regulate while missing out on the economy is used and abused anytime something look like contrary to US interests in MAGA land.

[simongray]

> And what's the actual result? Just look at the market capitalization of European companies compared to US companies..

Europe is actually doing quite well at the moment. The European stock markets have over-performed quite decently vs. the US ever since Trump became president, despite the various curveballs thrown at Europe in recent years. Market capitalisation in the US is held up primarily by the Magnificent 7 who are great outliers in the American stock market.

[Saline9515]

There is a recency bias here. The Sp500 has outperformed the Stoxx600 every year for the last 5 years, except 2022.

Cumulative returns are around 100% for the american index, vs 60% for the EU one.