When Zuckerberg didn’t get what he wanted, Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck and France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire struck back at his stupid and infantile threat. After European governments refused to give over their data to US servers, Meta issued an indirect warning to shut down its social network operations across Europe.
The veiled threat by Meta Platforms Inc. to leave Europe due to stalled talks over privacy rules was music to the ears of two top German and French politicians.
“I’ve lived without Facebook and Twitter for four years after being hacked, and life has been amazing,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters at a press conference in Paris on Monday with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.
“I can confirm that life without Facebook is very good, and that we would live very well without Facebook,” Le Maire added. “Digital behemoths must recognise that Europe will resist and assert its sovereignty.”
The two were responding to statements in Meta’s annual report, which warned that if it couldn’t rely on new or existing data-sharing agreements, it would “likely be unable to offer a number of our most major products and services in Europe,” including Facebook and Instagram.
Meta Issues a Reminder to the EU That It Will Be Forced to Remove Facebook. “We won’t be intimidated by something like this because the European Union is such a big internal market with so much economic power,” Habeck said. Meanwhile, Le Maire outlined how European governments have confronted tech behemoths, including through privacy regulations, taxation, and the prohibition of the development of digital currencies.
Although we are concerned about any French or German businesses that rely on social media platforms, it is amusing and cool to hear politicians publicly condemn a corporation that is widely seen as morally dishonest and slowly driving its consumers nuts.
Someone commented “It’s understandable that European governments would welcome the exit of Facebook (and other US behemoths). Splitting up major tech isn’t a good way to deal with monopoly or dominance because it just adds more heads to the monster. The solution is to invest in European startups, which will eventually supplant US behemoths. But that can’t happen when Google and others are around, because it’ll be perceived as a waste of money. Catch-22. Solution: provoke Zuckerberg et al into narcissistic grandstanding, and hope that they are sufficiently cornered by their own comments to act. Google and Facebook have already performed this dance with Australia, and have come out on the losing end. As a European, I would welcome the collapse of Facebook, Microsoft, and other American behemoths in Europe as it would boost our tech economy.”
