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EU hits X with €120M fine for breaching the Digital Services Act
- mraduldeodhiya 10mo agoCrazy.
- tw04 10mo ago> "Europe is taxing Americans to subsidize a continent held back by Europe’s own suffocating regulations," Carr said. And America is taxing Americans via tariffs to subsidize a corrupt executive branch lining its own pockets. At least Europe is looking out for a whole continent. Not just a handful of grifters.
- tock 10mo agoEurope does tax its people a lot more. So the argument doesn't make sense.
- kaveh_h 10mo agoTaxes which are used wisely for the people’s benefit is not a wasteful thing. That was the point original commentator made. Your reasoning is that taxation is always bad and the more you pay the worst, a very American view which I can understand given how badly US government spends money in this regard.
- tock 10mo agoI made no such reasoning. The parent comment wrote about taxes like its something bad.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- esperent 10mo agoIt's just a dog whistle. People hate tax, so calling things that are not tax "tax" triggers anger in people without deep critical thinking skills. Or people with skills but not enough energy or time to use them on this particular issue.
- sofixa 10mo agoActually the difference isn't that big when you consider that "taxes" (I'm using this to describe all (semi-)mandatory state money extraction from revenues, whether they're called tax, insurance, cotisation, etc) in European countries cover the majority of healthcare and retirement costs that Americans pay out of pocket. But still have to pay. So if the US had the same "tax" model as European countries do, the rate wouldn't be that off (VAT is usually higher than American sales taxes, income tax often has higher brackets, but Americans spend a lot more on healthcare and retirement).
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- ralph84 10mo agoeurofounder and compliantvc having blue checks was probably the final straw.
- Telaneo 10mo ago> "Deceiving users with blue checkmarks, obscuring information on ads and shutting out researchers have no place online in the EU," said European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen. I agree. Good EU! > Pre-empting the announcement on Thursday night, United States Vice President JD Vance that "the EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage." Sorry, but your garbage has influence outside the US. Keep it to yourself or clean up. Deception and fraud aren't even protected by the 1st Amendment, and the blue checkmark scheme being pay-to-win is definitely leaning that way, if not just straight up there. Seems the EU thought is just is. And if you care so much about free speech, maybe you should be more open about those ads of yours?
- Aerroon 10mo agoWhy can a company be fined for not allowing "researchers" access to data? That seems bizarre to me.
- TheAceOfHearts 10mo agoWhat's bizarre about it? There's lots of legislation that requires companies to report on various data or to provide access to auditors. It's legally valid. I think there's a compelling case to be made for requiring large social media platforms to provide data access to researchers, considering the platform's incredible ability to influence elections and society at-large.
- nradov 10mo agoIt's stupid to force companies to accommodate researchers. If researchers want data then they can negotiate a paid license for it.
- deaux 10mo agoNot sure how much "It's stupid" adds to the conversation. GP made an argument.
- henry2023 10mo agoMaybe it’s stupid in your perspective. nevertheless; nations have the right to put laws in place and enterprises willing to provide goods and services ought to follow those rules.
- nradov 10mo agoAnd this is why the EU is stagnant and unable to innovate. These nations can do whatever they want but let's be honest about what's going on here. The law is stupid because it's forcing US tech companies to subsidize research boondoggles. They're providing bullshit jobs to useless academics who are incapable of doing any real work, and the final output will be some long reports that no one ever reads.
- briandw 10mo agoThey changed the blue check from an exclusive club of the rich and popular, to just Ive got a paying account. How is that misleading? Why does the EU have a say about design choices?
- jamesrr39 10mo agoThe blue check symbolised (symbolises) being verified, i.e. this account belongs to who it says it does. But it doesn't carry out any/sufficient checks to actually verify that. See also: https://x.com/jesus/status/1590405986925543424 https://x.com/jesus/status/1590405986925543424
- nradov 10mo agoThere's no actual need for checks.
- briandw 10mo agoTwitter created that definition and now the EU has the divine right to not let them change it? Verified can and does mean many things.
- isodev 10mo agoNo divine right, just consumer protection. USanians have been raised to believe that corporations are somehow above the law but that’s not true. Play stupid games, earn stupid fines a.k.a fuck with people and people will fuck back.
- tene80i 10mo agoThey have the legal right, similar to the federal government in the USA. You can disagree with their judgement, but they clearly have the right to enforce it.
- briandw 10mo agoIf every government in the world has a say on everything, nothing is permitted.
- ChrisArchitect 10mo ago[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46163721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46163721
- SanjayMehta 10mo ago[flagged]
- kaveh_h 10mo agoSounds more like SV technologist rulers are trying to conolise the world. Europe is less potent and threatening than even Elon at this point of time.
- arp242 10mo agoDon't do business in Europe if you don't like it. It's not hard. And if you must use these kind of loaded terms, insisting you MUST be allowed to do business on YOUR TERMS and your terms alone is pretty much how colonisation started.
- SanjayMehta 10mo ago[flagged]
- Longlius 10mo agoI mean, is there really any reason to continue offering the service in Europe? I highly doubt the revenue is really worth the trouble.
- kaveh_h 10mo agoIt’s not for profit. Elon put 45 billion dollars into it as a vehicle to influence even more people of the world particularly politicians. His open stance and clear support or rebuke of various political figures and parties around the world is a clear indication of this.
- Fnoord 10mo agoAt this point, X is a propaganda tool for the radical right. I won't miss X in Europe if you decide to remove access to EU. Please, do it. Mind you, 120M USD is peanuts for Musk. If it were me, I'd just fine X 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 USD just because I want to retaliate against Trump's silliness. If you wanna play hardball, expect it back. But, but... freedom of bullshit. You can keep that, we can perfectly use freedom of speech on solid platforms instead.
- isodev 10mo agoIt’s an effective tool to influence less informed people. How else would they make Farage/Brexit/FN/VB/Orban/… things relevant in public discourse?
- renewiltord 10mo ago[flagged]
- jsiepkes 10mo ago> Europe should fight its own wars. We civilized them. It's a whole new level of naive if you think the Nazi's would have left the US alone after they were done with Europe.
- renewiltord 10mo ago[flagged]
- yupyupyups 10mo ago^ This sort of shit-tier troll post is what you'll find in X times a million, because it's probably amplified by bots. I'd be happy to see X gone. You won't be missed.
- aydyn 10mo agoHow is it wrong? The US had nukes, Germany didnt. The US showed a willingness to use them too. Twice in fact.
- defrost 10mo agoLet's see; \1 In real actual history, the US didn't developed a working nuclear weapon based on UK provided designs until after the German surrender. So in real history there was no chance to "glass" an active EU war zone during WWII. \2 In the GP's fantasy history in which the US left Europe alone to deal with the Nazi's on their own, the MAUD folk would have never passed on their research to the US and the US would have wallowed in their belief that nuclear weapons were impractical and continued on messing about with atomic power from big piles.
- 10mo ago
- Frannky 10mo agoI left the EU years ago. Today, I feel way happier and freer. Once you're out, you realize how strongly they were influencing your ability to be free via rules, taxes, news, low salaries, and business start-up costs. Try it yourself if you get the chance.
- Ylpertnodi 10mo agoGive us a vague breakdown of you finances, might do.
- qwertox 10mo agoAnd where he left to.
- rcbdev 10mo agoI earn much more in my 'highly-taxed' Central European city than I'd earn in i. e. Switzerland after all costs are accounted for. Starting my company here cost almost nothing, and hourly rates start at €80. Cost of living is absurdly low compared with earnings - this all in a capital with one of the highest qualities of life on this planet. Schooling and university is completely free and of high quality. How do people find so much to complain about?
- netlipapa 10mo agoJust take a look at their comment history, most comments are completely empty in content like this one, and I'm willing to bet that if this indeed a person, they've never lived in an European country. Nobody that actually lived in the EU says they've "left the EU", since each country is pretty different and it makes no sense to say it like that. This whole thread has bot-vibes.
- consumer451 10mo agoElon Musk's completely reasonable response: > The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1997279325876367719 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1997279325876367719 https://xcancel.com/elonmusk/status/1997279325876367719 https://xcancel.com/elonmusk/status/1997279325876367719
- cakealert 10mo agoThe US could just adopt a law which automatically seizes assets from the EU to cover any such fines. Demonstrate where true power lies. Define this type of action as "bureaucratic piracy". Any rule which preferentially targets US interests over domestic either in its creation or its enforcement. Apply some of that "disparate outcomes" logic.