EU Regulations Debate

That is probably because you live in the states that you think that. The EU is so regulated its hard to do anything nowadays.

I live in the EU (well, some of the time), and I honestly believe that what the above commenter says is at least partially true. The EU are being protectionist, and usually only pass these types of regulations in sectors they have little to offer in the way of competition. I eagerly await the moment they target Airbus or car manufacturers.

Is this one of the instances where European regulations hurt businesses?

Because the EU is pro free trade? They just want everyone to follow the same laws which US tech giants often refuse to do.

This is almost spite from US companies that don't want to conform to EU regulations

Ironic considering the EUs apparent stance against American megacorporations. They're just making it harder to compete with them.

I would imagine they did lobby against this, likely fighting tooth and nail legally. However I do not think the EU is as easily swayed, especially as EU regulators are generally skeptical of the business practices of large US multinationals. IMO, and possibly objectively, the EU is generally more pro-competition and pro-privacy, it is also much harder to buy out politicians due to the parties being really fragmented and it would appear more difficult to unilaterally impose the will of these corp

Regulation too cumbersome, not worth it.What is the downvote coming from, isn't this just facts? If not for the regulation, why would EU be shunned?

It’s the same comments on HN as always. They think EU setting up rules is somehow worse than companies breaking them. We see how the US is turning out without pesky EU restrictions :)

EU constantly does things the US hasn't - such as consumer protection laws. But HN response to that is always "oh no EU is bullying US companies".