Comment on Cory Doctorow proposes how to break free from US digital domination
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Tarrifing in response is effective long-term, i think. Short-term, it’s a blow to your economy, but the businesses will reorientate to different pastures, because the US is more expensive. Which is good on multiple levels.
alzymologist@sopuli.xyz 5 days ago
Well it’s not like there is whole lot of stuff shipped from US to EU. The trick is, digital services sure would not be tarrifed (and if they are, users would still have no choice but to pay).
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 5 days ago
EU members are hooked on tax revenue from US big tech as well. Ireland, for example, is host to Meta offices and datacenters which are huge for revenue and jobs. As an outside observer, this seems to be a major source of tension and debate within that country. Meta just has way too much leverage. It remains to be seen whether the EU as a whole or individual members will have the foresight to seize upon the opportunity to foster an open, alternative tech ecosystem as Doctorow suggests. But, like he says, it will only take one to blow the doors open.
jjlinux@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Think about it. Why does Meta spend the money on that HQ in Ireland? Surely we all know it’s not them trying to make a country better by investing in it because they are such kind souls, right? So, yeah Ireland benefits from it, and that’s a good thing, but they also have that leverage to say ‘thanks for the money, and you can keep profiting here, as long as you’re not breaking any of our laws’. I don’t know, it’s way more complicated than that, but politicians need tk grow some balls.