Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

The fragility of the American exceptionalism.

What if we don't want FAANGs in Europe? What if it's harder for FAANGs to develop in Europe because they can't be as aggressive and careless as american corps are?

Personally I don't want Europe to allow huge monopolistic corps to take over our economy.

Why would we want Google, the search engine that provides ads and spies on you instead of providing good results?

Why would we want Facebook/Meta, the ridicolously troubled corporation hated by pretty much everyone at this point?

Why would we want Amazon, famous for exploiting it's workforce, using old wild west methods against unions, exploiting its own sellers by copying their products and selling them for less?

Why would we want Microsoft and Apple and their cartel like attitudes, when we could have a different paradigm of software/hardware that goes to benefit everyone, instead of existing only as a competitive advantage to take over the market?

All of this companies will do anything in their power (lecit or not) to increase their market share and avoid paying taxes.

You can keep your silicon valleys and your oligocratic economy, thank you.



> We don't want ....[x, y, z]

Then why are those US tech companies so successful in the EU with no viable local competitors, if nobody wants them?


>They why are those US tech companies so successful in the EU with no viable local competitors, if nobody wants them?

US tech has too much money they burn it on shit. So any potential competitor is bought, you see some UK AI company pops up then Google buys it and 1 year later you read how Google made huge progress in AI. IMO EU needs to first fix the illegal US companies tax tricks, also fix the Apple software tax or apply a similar tax on closed platforms, "the closed platform tax" , this would mean less money for US SV devs to waste on shit ty stuff and more money for EU devs to try do something better.


So, why are these noble, incorruptible EU-based companies selling out?


For money, I did not say are incorruptible. I explained why you will not see a FB or Google,Intel,Apple private competitor appear , it will be bought, the competitors will appear from China for sure, they have already mastered the smartphone , they are working on CPUs , I am not into social media but I read that they have pretty good alternatives to US versions too.


Everybody loves drugs, nobody likes dealers


We can agree to associate social media with drugs, but Microsoft, Apple, AWS and Google are providing consumers with many products for which we have no equivalent competitors locally.


But there are local competitors, they just got smothered and bought up by US based corps.

Why ? Because the US has a lot more money, which translates to more money for investors to dominate the economic landscape.

Why does the US have more money ? Well, if I want to buy an ice cream from the US for a dollar , I first need to sell something to an American for that dollar. US banks can just mint that dollar from thin air


>? Well, if I want to buy an ice cream from the US for a dollar , I first need to sell something to an American for that dollar. US banks can just mint that dollar from thin air

I don't get this argument as the reverse is also true. If the US wants to buy French cheese and wine, it needs Euros to do that and the ECB can just print Euros out of thin air.


I want to start an Apple competitor. I have a plan; it's interesting, fun and deep. But I lack skills (I'm a FED, not an OS or hardware engineer, and I've not done funding rounds and I only have cheap suits). If I exist, there's likely similar-minded folk out there.

(UK here; not quite Europe any more; not my fault or choice)


Do you really have a plan if you lack the requisite skills?


Step 5 of the plan - Find people with the skills to implement steps 1-4


EU has an over-abundance of talent due to the great free schools. Finding people with skills is not an issue. It's finding the VC and investors willing to burn through billions in losses years on end hoping that maybe they make a profit one day, that's the problem.


Why are competitors not viable?

Because the USA is a large protectionist market that doesn't like EU companies doing business there?

Because USA outspends EU to become dominant?

Because even with the EU wide laws, it's still more expensive to follow every local law compared to USA vs USA states?


> Because the USA is a large protectionist market that doesn't like EU companies doing business there?

Could you explain this one a little more?


When US can't compete, they just ban stuff. See Huawei and TikTok.


I'm European.


Well I'm not really answering to you (as an individual/person), but to the concept you expressed, which is VERY american.


I didn't express my concept, I expressed the reality that US tech companies have universally conquered Europe. If the EU would have had the ability to compete in these sectors, then we would have done it already ever since we found out in 2013 that the US is spying on us, or way before that. But nothing changed since then. Almost every EU company and government institution is using Microsoft products and all consumers use Apple, Google or Windows. Where is this EU competition here?


The sad reality is that we have all tied ourselves to America which was considered an unsinkable bastion of Western democracy and civilization.

As Europeans we should have known better: all nations rise and fall.


Linus Torvalds is Finnish and was studying in Finland when he created Linux.


So what? We were talking about companies not individuals. The Linux kernel is not a company, not a product you can buy and neither is Linus Torvalds.

Plus, for the last 20+ years Linus has been working from the US while also gaining US citizenship. Case in point for US tech dominance, talent bread in Europe ends up in the US.


Bred.

But, sure, the US is acquiring European bread talent too: Sourdough, baguette, ciabatta...


Doesn't make you immune to american exceptionalism.


I'm expressing the reality/facts that US BIG-tech has conquered Europe and we haven't had any viable competitors to them that can re-conquer our local market, despite knowing the privacy and surveillance implications of using US BIG-tech for years now.

If you wish to negate the facts and call me names in return, then its your issue.


You’re tilting at windmills here. The several people you replied to appear to be in serious denial. Why break that?


When you say We you're not talking about the 100s of millions of users each of these companies has in the EU then?




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: