US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate • Hacker News Board

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#121

Post by vrganj » Sat, May 23, 2026, 3:56 PM UTC

skippyboxedhero wrote: post #29

pjc50 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whitehouse really really hates the idea that the EU can decide, not them, what is allowed .. in the Netherlands. Where the EU and the Dutch government get to decide what happens. That's what national sovereignty means.

I would read the links in the article. The problem is that social media companies worked with civil servants in European countries to remove posts being made people outside Europe. This also happened in the UK where there were parts of the government that were able to make requests directly to social media companies to remove posts on their platform, regardless of where the poster was from. For obvious reasons, the l…

Posts being distributed to people in the Netherlands that is.

Magic mushroom truffles are decriminalized here in NL, you can sell them openly in shops. Doesn't mean you won't get in trouble if you send them to the US.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#122

Post by yxhuvud » Sat, May 23, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

miohtama wrote: post #10

microtonal wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They all talk about the importance of European digital sovereignty and then continue to do the exact opposite behind the scenes. To be honest and I say this as a Dutch person, this is typical Dutch (government). Basically two rules in Dutch politics: (1) always choose the option that pleases the US the most; (2) always postpone solving issues to the latest possible moment (US dependence, nitrogen deposition, childcar…

It's not only Dutch. Instead of building sovereignity, the EU thought they could regulate their way and force everyone to bend the knee because of their share as a trading partner. This started 20 years ago. However what has happened is that the EU's soft power is crumbling, but the politicians have hard to grasp with the reality they could somehow dictate things globally. AI will only further accelerate this. Only w…

What? In this case the problem isn't that EU wants to dictate things globally, but US laws that do just that. EU laws just apply to Europe. As time goes on and European agencies get their shit together and actually start to follow their own rules, it will mean a shitton of business will leave US companies.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#123

Post by j_maffe » Sat, May 23, 2026, 4:27 PM UTC

bob001 wrote: post #42

Eridrus wrote: post #9

I don't know what the US thinks it will gain by targeting civil servants. They are not the ones with the power to decide what happens, and retaliation would mean more anti-US people selecting themselves into these projects.

> retaliation would mean more anti-US people selecting themselves into these projects. Very few people are martyrs or want to become martyrs. Even fewer in places where life is generally fine and for a cause that isn't dire to their loved ones.

The curve of willingness to oppose aggressive action rises significantly before it drops off at some safety threshold. I believe US-Europe relations are still well below that threshold and the rise in level of aggression is only stirring up more resistance, not less.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#124

Post by j_maffe » Sat, May 23, 2026, 4:28 PM UTC

zugi wrote: post #118

The article is thin on details about the sharing of names. If US companies responded to US government inquiries about speech regulation by forwarding the emails they received from Dutch regulators, those would unsurprisingly include regulators' names. The article title seems like click bait, even though the article content goes on to have interesting details about EU attempts to reduce dependence on US technology com…

How is it clickbait? They're describing the topic of the discussion in a transparent and accurate manner.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#125

Post by intended » Sat, May 23, 2026, 4:30 PM UTC

graemep wrote: post #57

ffaccount2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans (and not just the US) think they still have the influence on the world they had in the 1980s when their economies were a much larger proportion of the global economy. Americans have no idea what the world looks like from Asia which contains most of the world's population and generates a third of global GDP.

It is a general western problem to some extent, but the US has a a faster growing economy than any of the big European economies. It is still a super-power.

As much as people complain about the EU, its the last western polity that is functioning to some degree of normal.

To put it politely, America is just not, at this moment in time, with a predictable actor with rational self interest.

If things continue to fail, then its simple to assume we return to the spheres of interest stage of things, at which point the EU still functions as a bloc which everyone trades with.

Plus, American GDP figures are matched with a K shaped economy, and a population with a deep sense of unease and unhappiness.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#126

Post by iwontberude » Sat, May 23, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

miohtama wrote: post #10

microtonal wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They all talk about the importance of European digital sovereignty and then continue to do the exact opposite behind the scenes. To be honest and I say this as a Dutch person, this is typical Dutch (government). Basically two rules in Dutch politics: (1) always choose the option that pleases the US the most; (2) always postpone solving issues to the latest possible moment (US dependence, nitrogen deposition, childcar…

It's not only Dutch. Instead of building sovereignity, the EU thought they could regulate their way and force everyone to bend the knee because of their share as a trading partner. This started 20 years ago. However what has happened is that the EU's soft power is crumbling, but the politicians have hard to grasp with the reality they could somehow dictate things globally. AI will only further accelerate this. Only w…

The problem for the EU is being so consumer centric but having a weak currency and diminished manufacturing (thanks to Russian invasion).

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#127

Post by skippyboxedhero » Sat, May 23, 2026, 5:02 PM UTC

vrganj wrote: post #121

skippyboxedhero wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would read the links in the article. The problem is that social media companies worked with civil servants in European countries to remove posts being made people outside Europe. This also happened in the UK where there were parts of the government that were able to make requests directly to social media companies to remove posts on their platform, regardless of where the poster was from. For obvious reasons, the l…

Posts being distributed to people in the Netherlands that is. Magic mushroom truffles are decriminalized here in NL, you can sell them openly in shops. Doesn't mean you won't get in trouble if you send them to the US.

[flagged]

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#128

Post by ronsor » Sat, May 23, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

> Companies such as Microsoft and Meta have shared the names of civil servants and academics working on European tech regulation with a senate committee investigating “tech censorship” or “jawboning”, news magazine Vrij Nederland reported on Friday.

IIRC this was part of subpoena from Congress?

> The cabinet has described the news as “extremely worrying”, given that the named officials could now face travel bans or even sanctions, Vrij Nederland said.

This is possible.

> “If you want to discuss policy, then you do it with us, not over the backs of civil servants,” digital economy minister Willemijn Aerdts told the magazine. “That has happened and we will now talk to our contacts, including those in the US.”

I don't know why they expect to be able to discuss policy constraints without the government of the company's place of business knowing.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#129

Post by weinzierl » Sat, May 23, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #23

dgellow wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> always postpone solving issues to the latest possible moment Germany has the exact same issue. Always looking to keep the status quo for as long as possible. It’s really a structural problem, it’s the result of the political system, elected leadership, demographics (mostly the voting population aging rapidly). I expect the same issue is shared by most Western European countries

Isn't this simply a "human thing", keeping the status quo for as long as possible? I see the same European country I'm from, where I'm living currently, the South American country my wife is from and every single country I visit. Maybe another framing, is there any countries where this isn't true? Where truly the default is to go against the status quo and continuously improve no matter what? I know there are a few c…

It's a manager thing, something you learn in business school and from airport-lounge management lit. "Decide at the last responsible moment" has its place but managerial types often undeservedly elevate it to a general principle.

Technical people are usually not like that. If anything they fall into the opposite trap: Always chasing the latest and greatest and wasting all their energy on novelty churn.

Re: US tech firms share Dutch regulator officials' names with Senate

#130

Post by skippyboxedhero » Sat, May 23, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #111

dgellow wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hostile to all forms of change and innovation I don’t understand how you can believe that about the EU. The union has been evolving so much since its creation. It is itself one of the greatest innovation in governance ever created. GDPR is an innovative framework making the EU leader in privacy protection. European open banking initiatives/frameworks are unique and have been leading the way forward for the past 20…

These innovations don't count, since they didn't create any new oligarchs.

GDPR is innovation...

I assume you don't live in the EU either...yes, there is an absolutely huge industry behind it, that is why it passed. Companies have to employ data protection officers, effectively a no-show job, and there is a whole industry of people connected to governments that facilitates this. And that also protects existing companies from competing because it is so expensive to handle customer data...as you need to employ an EU bureaucrat who is the equivalent of a CCP party official...that you have to pay for.

The weirdest thing is that the EU is maximally corrupt, and people are unable to see it because they are so enured to the corruption. It is all corruption. GDPR does not increase productivity, it is tax on consumers to produce something that is required by government with the surplus being passed to insiders (civil servants, unions, and billionaires).

Also, the per capita rate of billionaires in countries like Germany is higher than the US...this is whilst they have a population that has the same net financial wealth as Greece. In Sweden, 60% of total GDP was produced by companies controlled by one family until the 70s. The whole system is based upon large government in concert with large businesses and large unions. If you are in the club, you get a lifetime of free money. If you are out of the club...well, good luck competing with the migrants they are flooding into the country.