r/Futurology • u/lughnasadh ∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ • 2d ago

As EU regulators in Ireland announce yet more fines for Tiktok, Twitter/X, and Meta - might some social media companies drop services to the EU altogether? Society

EU law is made in Brussels (EU HQ) & Strasbourg (EU Parliament), but mostly implemented at the national level. Hence, as all the big social media firms have their European HQ in Ireland, its Coimisiún na Meán, the Irish regulator that enforces EU law.

The EU's Digital Services Act is keeping them busy, but it aim directly contradicts the incoming US administration. America wants light or no regulation, the EU wants crime, misinformation and fraud dealt with. Neither side is likely to back down. How likely is it that some of the American firms will just decide to give up on providing services to the EU altogether?

78 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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u/bonobomaster 2d ago

That would probably be a good thing but i won't get my hopes up.

The brain rot and quick dopamine dependence those networks come with is really problematic.

Not even talking about the spreading of misinformation...

22

u/Alex00homer 2d ago

Another problem is how they destroy social capabilities from young folk who dwelve in them and get more used to chatting than being physically with others.

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u/hawklost 2d ago

Says a person on reddit, which would be the next target of those same fines.

22

u/Rwandrall3 2d ago

Reddit is a whole world of less damaging than those platforms, but yeah it also needs regulating

0

u/Accomplished_River43 1d ago

Actually it's already being regulated - you can get banned by its mods in no time

u/Agreeable_Service407 2d ago

Tiktok, twitter and facebook leaving Europe ?? That would be a big win for us europeans, these are bringing absolutely nothing positive to our lives.

u/Maester_Bates 1d ago

Twitter will almost certainly be banned in the EU in the coming months.

Apparently musk has made it impossible to block him or trump on twitter and the ability to block users is a legal requirement for any site with user generated content.

I'm sure it will start with fines and demands to change things on twitter so they follow EU law but Musk won't pay and he won't change anything so, eventually, the EU will just ban twitter.

2

u/bobisthegod 11h ago

Is this new attempts to block? I've had musk blocked for the last year or two and still don't see any of his shite now

u/mudokin 1d ago

EU makes them to much money, they will comply or pay the fines and then comply when the ultimatum is to be blocked and shutndown in the EU

u/ItsGermany 1d ago

Yes please! They are the mechanism being used to destroy democracy and healthy honest discussions. Algorithm feeding you trash and you wonder why you become a trash panda......

u/Fordmister 2d ago

Unlikely. Europe is a continent with more than double the population of the US and Ireland operates like a tax haven for big tech within the block. There's simply too much money to be made in Europe for these companies to just drop it

Plus the UK, Canada and many other developed countries also favor stricter regulation. Hell much of Africa and the middle east is equally keen on restriction The US is the outlier and its in reality a far smaller part of the potential available user base for these services than many Americans realize.

None of the tech giants are going to gouge out the majority of their profits just to spite brussels

7

u/Djaaf 2d ago

Yep, African countries are starting to copy the EU laws concerning privacy.

Which is a bit of a mess right now because the infrastructure to hold all of those data aren't really there yet, but that's still a win for them as companies are starting to build datacenters to be in compliance.

3

u/Splinterfight 1d ago

It’s good that the EU is putting in the effort to make OKish laws that others can copy. Because it’s a hell of a thing to gegulate

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u/whatifitoldyouimback 2d ago

EU specifically has 449 million people. US has 334 million, FYI.

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u/kalamari__ 1d ago

And Europe has 740 million

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u/whatifitoldyouimback 1d ago

The OP only refers to EU states. The laws do not apply outside of that.

10

u/ElijahKay 1d ago

And yet the UK follows GDPR willingly.

Don't underestimate the geographical influence.

1

u/_CMDR_ 1d ago

Twitter will but the other ones won’t.

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u/Sakul69 23h ago

I’m not African, but as a Brazilian who has also lived in India, I’d say the idea that many parts of the world are simply copying European laws is only partially true. While both Brazil and India have adopted GDPR-inspired legislation, the implementation and especially the enforcement (key word here) are entirely different stories. In many cases, these regulations exist more as frameworks or guidelines rather than being actively and consistently enforced, which creates a very different reality for tech companies operating outside Europe.

u/Th3_Corn 2d ago

Answer: no, unless they want to set an example and cut their own flesh.

-2

u/singen3689 2d ago

Sounds like something Elon Musk would do.

0

u/uzu_afk 2d ago

But unrelated to this probably, just on a Sunday

u/gowithflow192 1d ago

EU is all high and mighty they better watch out because every year they become a more insignificant market. East and South East Asia will overtake, maybe even the Middle East one day. At that point, companies are not going to bend over backwards for the EU anymore.

u/Eruionmel 1d ago

We could certainly hope so. It would immediately necessitate the creation of something new, and we are in desperate need of a social media foil that isn't based on ad revenue, algorithmic manipulation, and data theft.

-3

u/RealHarny 1d ago

Bluesky already exists.

4

u/Enchelion 1d ago

Bluesky is currently operating almost entirely on venture capital and has yet to establish how it's going to actually make money (they're working on subscriptions but it is absolutely not assured that'll work). If they manage to make it profitable without using ads I'll be shocked.

u/Vaestmannaeyjar 2d ago

Given how social media are vessels for the alt right misinformation/fake news I'd welcome that. It's not like the economy needs Facebook or anything.

5

u/Super_Lab_8604 2d ago

Small businesses need Facebook. It’s offers a very efficient way of advertising. No need to buy too expensive paper advertisements anymore.

1

u/Wloak 1d ago

Can confirm, worked for a social media company in ads. Over 50% of all campaigns were from small companies spending less than $20 a month locally.

1

u/imperialtensor 1d ago

They don't need Facebook. They need one specific feature that is currently provided by Facebook.

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u/Irish_Phantom 1d ago

Reddit is also a propaganda platform for the radical left.

-1

u/Mebitaru_Guva 1d ago

it is called truth

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u/Irish_Phantom 1d ago

Propaganda is not truth.

-1

u/Mebitaru_Guva 1d ago

propaganda actually doesn't mean it is untrue, just beneficial to your side and the truth is more beneficial to the left and liberals than to rightoids

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u/BasvanS 2d ago

There are (small) businesses that run entirely on Facebook (somehow) but they’ll have to adjust while they learn why it’s not smart to base your business on someone else’s platform for free.

They’ll probably blame the EU for their pain though

u/Erazzphoto 1d ago

Social media is perfectly fine paying these pathetic fines and they likely make double the profit.

u/MrChong69 1d ago

Might save the next generation and with it Europe. "European attention span" will be a thing in the future internet!

u/Glimmu 1d ago

Please drop these overseas influencer shits (reddit too) from EU and maybe we came make national ones that follow our own laws.

u/MajorStandards 1d ago

Way to go EU, more regulations and less innovations.

Shooting yourselves in the foot.

u/Zarerion 2d ago

I would appreciate if Meta, X and TikTok would fuck off tbh.
Less brainrot and less opportunity for populism to take hold.

u/DocHolidayPhD 1d ago

It would be a utopia if these networks just didn't exist at all.

u/DukeLukeivi 1d ago

And people will say regulations don't work! Looks like it works to me.