[dgant]

It's not senseless when countries apply laws that affect websites operated from other countries. If I'm releasing a prototype in the USA I'd rather worry about GDPR compliance down the road.

Laws regulating websites have tradeoffs and this is one of them.

[cubefox]

Also maybe they have some loyalty to their US American countrymen. Reminds me of how a majority in polls in the US said that the Pfizer vaccine should be distributed to US Americans first, while people in almost all other countries were more in favor for international ratios. (Although this case isn't equally justified here, since the vaccine was produced by a US company, Pfizer, but developed by a German company, BioNTech.)

[whimsicalism]

Realistically most of this tech was actually developed in academic labs and at Moderna, then knowledge leached out to biotech competitors.

> while people in almost all other countries were more in favor for international ratios

I have seen the first polling you've mentioned (66% of Americans favor prioritizing US). I would love the source if you have it on similar polling for people outside the US on whether to prioritize their own country.

[cubefox]

I don't think the technology was leaked from Moderna, as BioNTech was a major player in this mRNA technology before.

I don't have the poll, but as far as I remember only in the US was the majority for prioritizing the own country. Though the amount of money spent on "project warp speed", a US effort not matched anywhere else, could play a role here.