Privacy protections become more and more relevant with the ubiquity of information that companies process, store and share. Sure it adds work for companies, but

Privacy protections become more and more relevant with the ubiquity of information that companies process, store and share. Sure it adds work for companies, but that is a preferable trade off to the alternative. GDPR won't make the difference between a company being a large global player or not. Similarly, taxing companies that go to every possible extent to avoid it and hardly pay any taxes even though they are some of the largest companies in the world is hardly being "obsessed with finding ways to tax US internet giants as much as they can". I think a large reason for the lack of large European IT companies is the language and small/segmented markets problem. It's natural to start with your home country/market since that is were you are, were you have market insight, connections to get things going, .... But in Europe you have many countries with different languages, different currencies, tax schemes, regulations, and very different levels of income and prosperity. Expansion / internationalization is often a very cumbersome step by step process. Compared to the US where you have a large demographic with a single language, somewhat more unified regulation, and a big ecosystem of startups, things are a lot more challenging. Stricter employment protection and regulation in general, and the lack of the achievement and entrepreneurial culture certainly play a role though.