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Comment by zenhack | Hacker News Reader

They'd also have to stop being based in Europe (they're officially headquartered in Ireland, because tax evasion), and (here's the kicker): stop doing business with all of Europe. Even if they had to say screw it and not do any targeting of their adds at all, it really wouldn't make any business sense for them to take their ball and go home.

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I think the EU government would be in more trouble than either Google or Facebook if both companies decided to stop servicing all EU citizens. I think the only reason big companies aren't threatening that is because GDPR gives them a massive advantage over small businesses and basically permanently solidifies their positions on top of the tech world in those countries.

That would be a massive dystopia if companies had more power than an entire continents democratic governments. Might as well just make way for the megacorps and corporate citizenship at that point

> That would be a massive dystopia if companies had more power than an entire continents democratic governments.

Governance is balancing individuals' and corporate interests. Companies like Google and Facebook have a tremendous amount of power because they're the gateways to information. Those two companies alone are the internet for many people. Far fewer people would push for the over-reaching GDPR legislation if they knew it would impact their ability to use the internet as they know it (which it does, ultimately, one way or the other.)

It's hard to imagine the EU government being "in trouble" if Google, Facebook, etc, all stopped operating in Europe. The impact to the companies would be far, far greater than any impact on the government.

What do you think can happen if FB stops serving EU? AQ revolution? I think a few or even more FB clones would appear, ones from other big players that would need to respect the law, maybe they can import your contacts from FB too.

About google, I think they make too much money to leave EU, maybe they will close some products that are not profitable in EU but that is all.

FB's HQ isn't in Ireland. I think it's in the USA.

i think they mean "european HQ" in the sense that they serve the whole of EU from Ireland.

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