The EU Bumps Heads with Tech Bros
May 1, 2025
Dinobaby, here. No smart software involved unlike some outfits. I did use Sam AI-Man’s art system to produce the illustration in the blog post.
I noticed some faint signals that the European Union has bumped heads with a couple of US tech bros. The tech bros have money, users, and a do-it-my way attitude. The EU moves less quickly and likes to discuss lunch before going to lunch. The speedy delivery approach upsets stomachs of some European professionals.
The soccer player on a team sponsored by tech bros knocks over the old player and wins the ball. The problem is that the youthful, handsome, well-paid superstar gets a red card. Thanks, OpenAI. I am looking forward to your Telegram clone.
The hints of trouble appear in “Brussels Takes Action Against Google and Apple Despite Trump Threat.” The article explains that the tech bros have violated the Digital Markets Act. Some pundits have suggested that the DMA exists because of certain tech bros and their zip-zip approach to shaping monopolistic business methods.
What are the US tech bros going to do? [a] Posture, [b] output PR, [c] litigate, [d] absolutely everything possible. The answer, based on my limited understanding of how big time thinkers with money and win-at-all-costs logic business executives thing, [d].
Let’s think about how this disagreement will unfold.
First, the use of media to communicate the unfairness of a governmental entity telling a couple of tech bros they can’t race their high performance vehicles down Avenue Louise, the Ku’damm, or the Champs-Élysées. Then the outfits will output PR, lots of PR. Third, the lawyers will take flight. If there are not enough legal eagles in Europe, convocations will be whisked to Brussels and Strasbourg. The final step will open the barn door and let the animals run free.
With the diplomatic skills of a SWAT team and piles of money, the afflicted tech bros will try to get the EU to knock off the anti-tech-bro double talk. Roll over or ….?
That’s the question, “Or what?”
The afflicted tech bros are accustomed to doing what they want, using slick talk and other inducements to do exactly what they want. The “you want to move the icons on the home screen” and “you want objective search results” attitudes are likely to be somewhat ineffective.
I am not sure what the tech bros will do. France broke the wing of Telegram’s big bird. After realizing that France could put him in a depressingly over crowded prison about 16 kilometers from a five star hotel in Paris, the Telegram tech bro complied.
Will the defendants in future legal disputes with the EU show up in court to explain to the slug-like thinkers in the EU government bureau that they must do what the US tech bros want. There’s that “or” again. It is a pesky matter.
Tech bros, as Pavel Durov learned in his seven months of intensive classes in French law, the bureaucracy moves slowly and has a variety of financial levers and knobs. These can be adjusted in numerous ways. It is indeed possible that if a tech bro gets out of line, he could experience a crash course in EU systems and procedures.
The inconceivable could happen: The companies products could be constrained in some way. With each “do it our way” output, the knobs and dials can be adjusted.
Could the tie up of Ecosia and Wolfram Alpha or Swisscows offer a viable option for search? Could the Huawei-type of mobile devices replace the iPhone?
The tech bros may want to check out how Pavel Durov’s approach to business is working out.
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2025
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