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I know it's popular to dunk on Facebook and other companies but maybe we should take a moment and think about where Europe is heading. The article mentioned th

I know it's popular to dunk on Facebook and other companies but maybe we should take a moment and think about where Europe is heading. The article mentioned that ad revenue is declining in Europe so maybe that 10% could become 9% very soon and so on. Maybe slowly it would make sense for companies to not care about Europe anymore and Europe with its regulation heavy approach may not even care. I do believe that Europe needs to rethink its approach before it goes into terminal decline.

uni_rule 3y ago
Oh god won't someone please think of the ad revenue!
- DangitBobby 3y ago
  I don't think you understood the parent comment. They are saying Facebook will just decide to leave Europe if it stops being worth it. Facebook won't care, the EU already might not care, but the citizens probably do care.
  - heavenlyblue 3y ago
    Citizens probably don't care about Facebook as such. American companies aren't very much liked in most of the EU by the citizens, so politically it is not a suicide to get rid of them. Does Facebook provide a lot of value? I would argue it does provide some value, but doesn't add much above things like WhatsApp which are relatively primitive by themselves.
    - disgruntledphd2 3y ago
      Facebook leaving = Whatsapp leaving. Now, the real question here is why they can't just do the processing in the EU, given that they have a bunch of data centres in Ireland, Sweden and maybe elsewhere.
      - Nextgrid 3y ago
        Whatsapp leaving means everyone will just switch to Signal or the dozens of different messengers out there? I don't see the big deal?
  - KomoD 3y ago
    Personally as an EU citizen, I do not care
  - carlmr 3y ago
    Is Facebook leaving a lot of tax money or jobs in Europe? If not then removing it will probably make people in Europe more productive.
    - dr-detroit 3y ago
      [dead]
  - scrum-treats 3y ago
    If Meta leaves (which it won't), wouldn't that actually be a tremendous benefit to EU? There are tons of overqualified persons in/from EU with ability to develop a better alternative to Meta offerings. I'd even go so far as to assert that EU would even subsidize such an endeavor, as it would be easier (and cheaper) to start over with human-preserving regulatory standards in place than to keep playing legal cat and mouse with companies like Facebook and Instagram. Reminds me of a book called "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. If ever there was a time to regain control over social media and politics for the sake of ensuring a humanity, it's now.
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      EU might subsidize it, but with the way its regulations are going, it's getting harder and harder to have a productive startup environment in Europe. It takes much more effort to start a company and raise money in Europe than in the US.
comte7092 3y ago
Not even care about what exactly? Ad tech companies might have a hard time in Europe, but that’s kind of the point. “Regulation” is too broad of a term, what matters are the specifics. In some instances there will be companies/industries that benefit and on others, some with face challenges.
infamouscow 3y ago
The direction Europe is heading is one that holds Facebook and other parasitic vampires with deserved contempt. The reason people cheer news like this is because similar to tobacco companies, Facebook has entirely lost any credibility for existing. It would be unnatural to do anything but help expedite its demise. My only complaint is Europeans didn't go far enough.
_zzaw 3y ago
Whereby "companies", what you really mean is American companies. I'm not sure why you think the alternative to shitty US companies is "terminal decline". Europe is more than capable of coming up with its own tech companies, and the prospect of trashfires like Facebook being driven out and replaced with more responsibly managed alternatives is firmly in the "feature" column.
- from 3y ago
  I don't mean to be presumptuous but the only company out of Europe that's even comparable is Spotify and even then the majority of their employees are in the US.
- scrum-treats 3y ago
  Agreed. See also "How Facebook and Instagram became marketplaces for child sex trafficking"[1]. Meta has a problem: lack of ethics. EU has a solution: regulatory ethics. If anything, it is the US that needs to seriously re-evaluate Meta's position. How is Zuckerberg allowed to own any social media company after Cambridge Analytica? (not rhetorical) [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35726102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35726102

uni_rule 3y ago

Oh god won't someone please think of the ad revenue!

DangitBobby 3y ago
I don't think you understood the parent comment. They are saying Facebook will just decide to leave Europe if it stops being worth it. Facebook won't care, the EU already might not care, but the citizens probably do care.
- heavenlyblue 3y ago
  Citizens probably don't care about Facebook as such. American companies aren't very much liked in most of the EU by the citizens, so politically it is not a suicide to get rid of them. Does Facebook provide a lot of value? I would argue it does provide some value, but doesn't add much above things like WhatsApp which are relatively primitive by themselves.
  - disgruntledphd2 3y ago
    Facebook leaving = Whatsapp leaving. Now, the real question here is why they can't just do the processing in the EU, given that they have a bunch of data centres in Ireland, Sweden and maybe elsewhere.
    - Nextgrid 3y ago
      Whatsapp leaving means everyone will just switch to Signal or the dozens of different messengers out there? I don't see the big deal?
- KomoD 3y ago
  Personally as an EU citizen, I do not care
- carlmr 3y ago
  Is Facebook leaving a lot of tax money or jobs in Europe? If not then removing it will probably make people in Europe more productive.
  - dr-detroit 3y ago
    [dead]
- scrum-treats 3y ago
  If Meta leaves (which it won't), wouldn't that actually be a tremendous benefit to EU? There are tons of overqualified persons in/from EU with ability to develop a better alternative to Meta offerings. I'd even go so far as to assert that EU would even subsidize such an endeavor, as it would be easier (and cheaper) to start over with human-preserving regulatory standards in place than to keep playing legal cat and mouse with companies like Facebook and Instagram. Reminds me of a book called "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. If ever there was a time to regain control over social media and politics for the sake of ensuring a humanity, it's now.
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    EU might subsidize it, but with the way its regulations are going, it's getting harder and harder to have a productive startup environment in Europe. It takes much more effort to start a company and raise money in Europe than in the US.

comte7092 3y ago

Not even care about what exactly? Ad tech companies might have a hard time in Europe, but that’s kind of the point. “Regulation” is too broad of a term, what matters are the specifics. In some instances there will be companies/industries that benefit and on others, some with face challenges.

infamouscow 3y ago

The direction Europe is heading is one that holds Facebook and other parasitic vampires with deserved contempt. The reason people cheer news like this is because similar to tobacco companies, Facebook has entirely lost any credibility for existing. It would be unnatural to do anything but help expedite its demise. My only complaint is Europeans didn't go far enough.

_zzaw 3y ago

Whereby "companies", what you really mean is American companies. I'm not sure why you think the alternative to shitty US companies is "terminal decline". Europe is more than capable of coming up with its own tech companies, and the prospect of trashfires like Facebook being driven out and replaced with more responsibly managed alternatives is firmly in the "feature" column.

from 3y ago
I don't mean to be presumptuous but the only company out of Europe that's even comparable is Spotify and even then the majority of their employees are in the US.
scrum-treats 3y ago
Agreed. See also "How Facebook and Instagram became marketplaces for child sex trafficking"[1]. Meta has a problem: lack of ethics. EU has a solution: regulatory ethics. If anything, it is the US that needs to seriously re-evaluate Meta's position. How is Zuckerberg allowed to own any social media company after Cambridge Analytica? (not rhetorical) [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35726102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35726102