You would have thought Meta would have had employed plenty of Dutch resources with local knowledge.
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> You would have thought Meta would have had employed plenty of Dutch resources with local knowledge.
Without doubt, the necessary US-based director-level people at Meta almost certainly did do that, as well as pulling-in expertise from the world of geopolitical consulting. And then immediately after reviewing all that input they didn't want to hear, the Meta folks very likely thought-up a quick plan that they knew for certain would outsmart those silly over-regulating and anti-business, Europeans... which clearly didn't, and hence we find ourselves in the situation we have today.
Do not underestimate the ego and (not mincing my words) arrogance of people who make it to the top: as soon as you start using "I'm C-level/D-level at Meta, I'm hot shit" in your thought-processes you're in for a nasty grounding incident, much to our amusement.
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Post-disclaimer: It's not about being American, it's about not letting your personal career success go to your head.
The reason we don't see non-American companies acting like this is because eventually all companies grow big enough to re-identify (if not relocate...) as an American company (...or they get acquired by an American company), because that's the single biggest market in the world, and you can't conquer the world without owning the North American market in whatever business you do, imo.
Maybe the problem is that Dutch "resources" are easily Americanized. The American and Dutch ways of doing business are not that different in style, just in scale. I suspect many Dutch entrepreneurs secretly think that if they just act a little more American, they can cut through the red tape and get things done. That may work on some levels, but not in Dutch politics.