I’m no fan of big tech, but, at some point the conspiratorial bending over backwards to blame big business instead of the government representatives creating the actual harm gets ridiculous.
Again, I often sympathize with the left leaning side of things, but you have to admit our side has a massive blind spot in terms of blaming all the worlds ills on a secret cabal of business elites instead of blaming the mechanism of government power actually creating the harm.
If we’re being honest, Amazon feels zero threat from European small businesses and quite frankly barely sees much value in their EU ecomm business at all. If anybody wants to see the EU turn into one market with one set of simple regulations it’s them. Trust me, they are not worried about small Etsy sellers.
The fundamental issue is the EU is a “union” in name only and the member states fundamentally don’t actually want to work together unanimously on most things. Yet, we’re paying all those officials in Brussels to do something, and the trivial green consumer issues like bottle caps are the only thing that doesn’t cause too big of a fight. It’s bike shedding 101. [1]
Until we acknowledge that this is the true root of the problem instead of inventing tired conspiracies, we cannot solve any of the issues.
When big companies have the resources to lobby and pass regulations (EU or country wide level) it is hard to separate these two, in particular when there are long-lasting policies that consistently disadvantage smaller entrepreneurs/small property owners disproportionally.
I think it is fair to point criticism to government/eu, but it also fair to point who actually benefits (intentionally or even not) from these.
But it’s the incoherence of the EU support that’s so weird.
Apple ships USB-C phones (a year before required): look at the EU standing up to big tech and forcing consumer-friendly products.
Crazy policies cripple small business and domestic AI? Oh, it’s not the EU’s fault, it’s that evil big tech.
There’s a recurring theme where the EU can do no wrong, despite repeated negative outcomes that only make sense to read as well-meaning but misguided regulatory overzealousness.
There is no way Amazon is lobbying to complexity product distribution in the EU out of some kind of triple bank shot to suppress those €1m/year businesses. The potential downside is nowhere near worth the benefit. This is pure bureaucracy.
> There’s a recurring theme where the EU can do no wrong, despite repeated negative outcomes that only make sense to read as well-meaning but misguided regulatory overzealousness.
Forget it. It's like talking to a wall. Go to /r/Europe and criticize anything regarding the EU and you'll be called a nazi or a far-right extremist.
Something good happens in Europe and you get the constant refrain that without the EU it would have never happened so everyone should just go dance kumbaya around the fire while singing the European anthem but if something goes wrong or is wrong with EU regulations it's because the lobbies got to it/watered it down/ changed it somehow and so on...
That's how you get people who with a straight face will tell you that digital and privacy rights are a 1000 times better in the EU even though the commission has been pushing Chat control V1 and V2 for the last 5 years.
It's complete madness and more akin to cult than anything. Is the EU doing something good sometimes? Yes. Is it the panacea that everyone wants you to believe it is? No.
Heck, even on HN which is usually visited by people who I would like to believe can have a nuanced opinion about certain topics, I have been accused to be some sort of Russian troll or far-right troll just because I dare to criticize the EU regulations that I disagree with.
Yes, I criticize frequently EU tech and EU laws because I live here and I am the one who has to live with it everyday but for some people voicing a disagreement in this day and age is akin to treason.
HN is no longer a place of people with nuanced opinions. During Covid it got overrun by normies and redditors during the mass reddit exodus.
Since then it's become basically a typical leftist ragebait-driven subreddit on a different domain. Say anything that challenges the left-party line and you're immediately downvoted.
Up to the governments to require the split-up of companies which become too large. Up to the governments to avoid corruption.
"The bribe was too seducing" is not a valid defense for citizens. The fact the gouvernements have an armed branch to enforce hegemony makes it more required, not more forgivable.
Please cite ANY evidence that Amazon, Epstein, Aliens, etc. had anything to do with this particular EU packaging nightmare...and that it wasn't wholly due to the bike shedding nature of a massive incomprehensible bureaucracy.
> Please cite ANY evidence that Amazon had anything to do with this particular EU packaging nightmare
Easy. Amazon spends several million every year to have their representatives discussing issues that affect them like that. We know for certain that they were indeed involved in the discussions, because that's what they are being paid to do (and it's not entirely objectionable for legislators to listen to industrial interests in the first place).
> to the bike shedding nature of a massive incomprehensible bureaucracy.
It may be incomprehensible to you, but like it or not these bureaucracy are what shape the modern world. Countries without an extensive bureaucracies are all failed state (and the first thing any emerging state actors, like the Taliban or HTS in Syria, do when they come to power is to set up a bureaucracy).
This falls into where your ideology belongs to "see" what is most likely:
* Amazon paid politicians in EU to craft and pass packaging laws that they would have to enforce/abide by, but have the resources. [Who and how many is anyones guess].
* EU Politicians meaning well, created policy to clean up packing with enforcement in all EU countries, maybe hoping large companies pay for the cleanup. Unintended consequences mean small shippers have a higher burden.
If it’s easy, where’s the evidence? Nothing you wrote is evidence for anything, at most “educated guesses”.
> Countries without an extensive bureaucracies are all failed state
This is such a ridiculous statement. There’s so many different levels of bureaucracy across the developed and developing world that you can’t really put them all in a single bag.
Conspiratorial? Like lobbying is something I came up with this morning. Also, you don't need to feel threatened to push for something like this. Pure corporate greed is enough of a motivator. You're giving corporations a free pass, like they collectively have a spotless track record.
And, sorry, I don't buy into the law of triviality. Most things are trivial when considered in isolation and you are not affected.
Again, I often sympathize with the left leaning side of things, but you have to admit our side has a massive blind spot in terms of blaming all the worlds ills on a secret cabal of business elites instead of blaming the mechanism of government power actually creating the harm.
If we’re being honest, Amazon feels zero threat from European small businesses and quite frankly barely sees much value in their EU ecomm business at all. If anybody wants to see the EU turn into one market with one set of simple regulations it’s them. Trust me, they are not worried about small Etsy sellers.
The fundamental issue is the EU is a “union” in name only and the member states fundamentally don’t actually want to work together unanimously on most things. Yet, we’re paying all those officials in Brussels to do something, and the trivial green consumer issues like bottle caps are the only thing that doesn’t cause too big of a fight. It’s bike shedding 101. [1]
Until we acknowledge that this is the true root of the problem instead of inventing tired conspiracies, we cannot solve any of the issues.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality