@ueeu They’re VC funded and haven’t had their exit. That exit could be to anyone and anywhere. Elon Musk could buy them tomorrow.
He could buy any private European company anyway, couldn't he? If we think like that, no one needs to boycott any US company because it's useless, EU alternatives may be sold in the future to Musk anyway...
@ueeu A company without VC doesn’t have to exit (sell). A company with, does. This is why I’m against VC-backed startups getting EU funding and why I said it makes us “an unpaid research and development department for Silicon Valley” when addressing the European Parliament (because if they fail, we pick up the cost with our taxes. If they succeed, they get snatched up by the Googles of the world.) It’s also why I suggested we fund independent organisations in the EU from the common purse for the common good that, if and when they do succeed, cannot be sold off.
https://ar.al/2019/11/29/the-future-of-internet-regulation-at-the-european-parliament/
Edited 11d ago
@aral @ueeu We need to do it in a way that fits us.
On thi subject an interesting article from @bert_hubert
https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/is-europe-just-not-good-at-innovating/