[no_time]

As an EU citizen all I can say is: Get fucked. I hope the EU grows a spine and actually doubles down instead of bowing to US pressure.

>Fine for Meta more than tenfold from € 28 million to € 390 million. Third case on WhatsApp pending.

Starting to get into a range for the fine that makes sense. Give it another tenfold increase and I'm content.

[LelouBil]

I'm happy to be an EU citizen for all the great tech regulations that are actually passing here !

[rybosworld]

On the other hand, this seems like an easy way to avoid addressing Europe's lack of it's own tech industry.

If Europe wants more ethical tech, they should make an honest effort to create an environment that supports that. I.e., invest in their own tech industry.

[LelouBil]

I agree with you, investing in ethical tech is an important step.

However if you look at what is happening today, with everyone having a google/instagram/etc account, and the power these companies have over the competition (because of unethical tactics) it is not feasible to actually compete with them.

Legislation is needed to make *everyone* in the tech industry that operates in europe at the same (ethical) level.

This may not be directly applicable to the linked article, but I'm mainly thinking of the DMA and DSA which will go into effect in a couple of months.

[pnt12]

Great point.

We also need to legislate against walled gardens to let other technologies flourish.

Breaking down companies would also be great. YouTube has been mostly crappy but operated at a loss , only alive due to backing by the Google colossus: how do you compete against that?

previously, not sure now

[pornel]

Not being bound by ethics gives unethical companies an advantage, so curbing unethical behavior is the necessary step to let ethical companies emerge.

[whazor]

In countries where Facebook is banned, there are local alternatives. So maybe regulations are the way to go.

[Nextgrid]

> If Europe wants more ethical tech, they should make an honest effort to create an environment that supports that. I.e., invest in their own tech industry.

Which is difficult if tech has been monopolised by US companies that break the laws, so they're addressing that for a start, as to level the playing field (both with GDPR and other regulations such as the Digital Markets Act).

[rybosworld]

By breaking laws implemented after the fact?

[dmitriid]

All laws are implemented after the fact.

[dmitriid]

> On the other hand, this seems like an easy way to avoid addressing Europe's lack of it's own tech industry.

The only reason the US has its tech industry is:

- lax laws for everything: from data protection to labor laws

- unlimited investor money that can sustain unprofitable businesses for decades Most of the top HN darling have never been profitable, and have been losing billions of dollars for years. The rest haven't been profitable for most of their existence

On top of that it helps to have a huge largely homogenous market

[avz]

This made me think of Elephant in Cairo [1] and Pachydermic Personnel Prediction [2]. Specifically, it reminded me of what the classification says about the job of a politician:

> Politicians don't hunt elephants, but they will share the elephants you catch with the people who voted for them.

Along these lines, we'd have something like

> Europeans don't invent new tech, but they will regulate the tech you invented.

As a fellow European, I struggle to feel any pride or happiness about this.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_Cairo

[2]: https://www-users.york.ac.uk/~ss44/joke/elephant.htm

[LelouBil]

The thing is, whether these laws happened because of non European business or because of European business is irrelevant to me.

There are companies (outside and inside of Europe) misusing personal data given to them and there were not enough regulations about this.

Now there is, so I'm happy.

If a random country made similar laws only for their companies I would also be happy, for the users located in this country.

It just happens to affect me and the people I know so I'm even more happy.

[davidguetta]

America didn't invent everything..

[malermeister]

The invention in case was predatory surveillance capitalism.

I'm quite happy our elected officials are putting an end to the abuse.

[andsoitis]

There's really a parallel issue, which is private vs. public interests (companies vs. government / the people).

You see it play out with European companies too, where they exploit populations where either there's lack of regulation or where they can bribe the officials. Profit, see what you can get away with. That's just on the legal front (like this case), not the moral or ethical front.

[neotrope]

Equally, as a US citizen and someone who used to work in the ad tech industry, anti-user products (e.g., surveillance capitalism) needs to die.