EU regulation makes starting a tech company very difficult, expensive and risky. I shuttered two of my personal projects when the GDPR came along as the legislation was complex, ambiguous and threatened punitive fines if I didn’t jump through the ambiguously defined hoops. And there are more and more EU-origin laws that I’d have to become an expert in, in order to comply. It’s just not worth the effort and risk. If I ever had a successful project idea I’d start it in America. Particularly with the new administration in 2025.
I will never forgive the EU for its directives that led to all websites prompting for cookies. If the EU lawmakers had any competence they’d have designed the law in such a way to prevent nefarious practices, rather than allowing nefarious practices AND creating a UX nightmare for all users of the whole internet!