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Comment by throwawayiionqz | Hacker News Reader

Can't wait the EU force FANNG to sell their EU activities to native EU firms

This would be a good deal for FAANGs. It would only be a matter of time before Euro bureaucracy, regulations and statism render them almost entirely sclerotic and useless (not to mention an important source of revenue). The EuFAANGs would survive for a few years, but I imagine most European customers would get tired of a lack of innovation or new feature coupled with higher prices. Even European firms still want to make a profit, and many would figure out how to use FAANGs again.

Lack of innovation you say? in Europe?... :S

I'm sensing some sarcasm, but would this not earnestly be a good development for everybody except current FANNG shareholders? Bringing internet firms operating in the EU into a position where they could be more effectively regulated by the EU seems like it would be a huge win for the EU.

National security. Why would the EU let some foreign country have access to all their citizens' private and work email, social media profiles and e-commerce purchases? Especially when it has been proved that that country's intelligence agencies have access to all of FANNG's data on EU citizens through various intelligence programs.

I agree, national security and privacy are both great reasons for the EU to take action against American megatech corps. Honestly I see little downside at all and I even think Americans citizens would also benefit from having these corporations knocked down a peg or three.

Of course shareholders would squeal like stuck pigs about efficiency, economies of scale, etc... but that's to be expected and, depending on your perspective, might even be part of the fun.

National security of EU countries is provided by NATO, though. Few EU countries spend a lot on defense.

I think the wider point is that national security is not just about guns, it can also be about media ownership, social media platforms, and electoral laws about communications and funding.

if a government can't effectively physically protect their citizens, then they have no rightful sovereignity over their data

It depends whether you expect the split off EU interests to be as robust from a consumer perspective as the unified companies were. I’d expect privacy to get better but I suspect other things might fall behind (e.g. Amazon’s logistics or AWS/Google Cloud offerings).

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