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If you can't have successful tech giants, you can have principles. If Apple/Meta/Alphabet were European companies the EU regulators would have absolutely no scruples about these things.

Every country talks 'free trade!' out of one side of their mouth, and implements protectionism via various concerns about health/safety/fairness out of the other when it's expedient. The US isn't any different, it's just not tech companies we're worried about (except some clock app that the Gen Z kids are obsessed with).



I wish my government had hired developers to create useful Linux tools, they gave money to nextcloud instead of paying tribute to Microsoft.

But guess who pays the best bribes?


The US used to have huge oil or railroad companies, but also scruples to regulate them when they grew too big.


I really don't think the oil and railroad monopolies were broken up for the benefit of consumers, or due to some high-minded principles. They were broken up at the behest of other domestic industries which they were strangling, and those industries had the political clout to take on the monopolies. Arguably the same thing happened with the AT&T monopoly.


You mean how the US regulated them out of business after giving them huge subsidies?


No, I was talking about 100 years ago.


At least our planes can fly.

(that was free, I’ll take the downvotes)




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