Finally read Ben Thompson’s The EU Goes Too Far from a couple of days ago about the EU and the DMA– I couldn’t agree with it more.

… what is problematic here is seeking to ban the fairest alternative — direct payment by consumers — and thus effectively taking Meta’s property.

@jsonbecker I especially agree with the point regarding Meta. But while I agree with some other points, as a European (not member of the EU, though!), both this and much of Gruber's coverage, drips with hate for Europe. Luckily not something I'm used to, though - so I'll take it! But it's palpable.

There's just so much they don't understand - like how it's absolutely by design that Europe don't have behemoth corporations. In the US the only thing to trigger anti-trust is things relating to customers - while here it's also passed to encourage more and smaller companies.

(Though, the best thing would've been if the companies fixed it on their own terms, or that the US had done something a long time ago.)

@Havn btw I haven't replied because I plan to write a whole post. I just haven't had time. Suffice to say, I think that you're wrong about hatred for Europe, and I think you're wrong about why Europe has smaller companies (or more like, why Europe has almost no large, leading tech companies)!

I pulled out the Meta point though because I think a lot of people who think they are very much in favor of the DMA and the EC enforcement of it get why the Meta case is ridiculous because it's so clear, and completely fail to see how some other elements of DMA enforcement are quite similar to it!

And another short bit about my thoughts, in case it's even longer before I get to the blog post is this-- I think what you read as hatred of Europe is actually more pro-capitalism than anti-European. It's a dislike for a style of market regulation (not all regulation!) the US has moved strongly away from.

@jsonbecker I'm interested in hearing your thoughts! I know we disagree on some stuff, but I still like hearing your opinions. 🙂

I don't count myself as "very much in favor of the DMA and the EC enforcement of it" - I can think of lots of stuff to criticise those things for! I have two main problems with their takes:

The first, is that almost every piece has some jabs, like this from Gruber:

I guess the European Commission hasn’t taken off for their months-long summer vacation quite yet (...)

You know, because f**K a healthy work-life balance. 🤷🏻‍♂️ (Here in Norway, we have five weeks paid vacation, mandated by law.) That's what I mean about them coming off (to be more precise) as hateful. But I get that not everyone notices. And this goes together with them showing they understand very little about Europe. For instance, I wrote this to Gruber a couple of days ago (a bit snarky - I know 😔):

You constantly say regulators shouldn’t tell companies how to design their products. But you’re also mad at the EC for not telling Apple how to design their product. 🤷🏻‍♂️ In Europe, regulation usually works like this (keep in mind, there’s still plenty of things I can criticise European regulators and democracy for!) Democratically elected officials identifies a problem, and might pass a law that says «Factories can’t dump poison in the river.» The exact technical solution for how not to dump poison, is up to the factory owner. (As it should be, IMO.) But I guess this is confusing if you’re used to the American way: Law makers, elected in a terribly flawed democracy, gets paid by companies, to write laws to their exact specification. (If they even manage to pass any laws at all, which usually isn’t the case. 🤷🏻‍♂️)

The second is that I think they are extremely wrong in thinking multi-trillion-dollar-companies don't need regulation. And they often, poorly, hide this viewpoint in critique of the specific regulation. While I'd much rather discuss how to best regulate them in a good way (because I'm far from sure the DMA is it!).

Edit: Forgot one thing I was going to say!

I think what you read as hatred of Europe is actually more pro-capitalism than anti-European. It's a dislike for a style of market regulation (not all regulation!) the US has moved strongly away from.

This is another difference/misunderstanding: Because in America, anti-trust has become very narrow, and only look at "consumer prices" - while in Europe, it looks at this, and on other businesses and the health of the market. And I just don't see how that's less capitalistic. (Only less libertarian.)

@Havn I think your response to Gruber is on point, including the snark. Frankly, US government is so deeply flawed, so corrupted, that to call it democratic is just delusional at this point. I think most Americans know this but it's a hard truth to admit because it's the failure of citizens to be citizens. We gave up on democracy long ago, we just don't want to face that fact.

@Denny agree: the notion of being a citizen has disappeared in people mindset. They are consumers with rights but very few obligations toward the grand scheme of things. Sorry about my English but I hope you get my point.

@Havn My critique of that index is that it gives the US too much credit. The flaws in our system goes far deeper than that chart would seem to cover.

But certainly, Americans have NO ground to lecture anyone on democracy. We have failed in our responsibilities for decades. Even worse, our system was designed from the outset to limit democracy. Some of this was corrected but any honest evaluation in 2024, even a casual evaluation, reveals numerous serious problems at various levels, in most or all branches. A system rife with corruption and now in full blown crisis.

@numericcitizen - Very much agreed, we went from thinking of ourselves as citizens to consumers decades ago.