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PaperclipPerfector  19hr ago (text post)   3078 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

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I happen to have experience in this space, and my tl;dr take is very simple: EU tech regulation is, historically, productive when and only when it focuses on creating a general standard which big tech companies are required to meet, then leaves the technical details up to the companies. DMA-mandated interoperability for messaging apps is a good example. Anything more granular you can trust them to be too out-of-touch and slow-moving to get right, and that's how you end up with cookie popups everywhere.

On your opinion survey:

  • Agree bans, fines intended to crush companies, etc. on US tech companies are stupid, and the US should treat them as a geopolitically hostile act (a real act, not like shitposting about Greenland). But European commentators and even policymakers these days are not as rational as they used to be; there's a lot of feelings of fear and inferiority that manifest as aggression.
  • What would happen if the US, in return, decided to stop protecting European IP? Oh no, how horrible, guess we gotta escalate further, maybe we can get Japan in somewhere on the escalation ladder? Seriously, not realistic but I agree we can move towards more lenient IP enforcement.
  • On European innovation, there's really nothing stopping French dirigisme from building an AI juggernaut like they built Airbus - except choking regulation, capital draining off into foreign markets and the welfare state, and a decline in high-capacity population. I have no doubt De Gaulle would be building a European hyperscaler right now if he were still in charge. Sadly...
  • EU labour laws are part of the picture but more relevant to the non-tech sectors. General compliance burden and access to capital (partially downstream from regulation) are bigger problems. But like the IP point it's a one-step-at-a-time thing even if the EU could fundamentally change its governing culture in a deregulatory direction.

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