The thing about Europe: it's the actual land of the free now

Innovation, Unicorns, and Capital in Europe

• Several commenters reject the article’s claim of “too little innovation” in Europe, arguing Europe produces strong tech that often gets acquired by US firms.
• Unicorn scarcity is framed by some as a feature: fewer monopolies, more diverse smaller providers, and less platform dependence—though others see it as a serious strategic weakness (e.g., reliance on US cloud).
• Venture culture is criticized: European investors are said to be risk‑averse “real-estate and pension fund” types, leading many promising startups to flip to US ownership early.
• Others note key industrial innovators (e.g., in semiconductors, pharma, manufacturing) and corporate-backed startup ecosystems; lack of giant consumer-tech brands doesn’t equal lack of innovation.

Regulation, Competition, and Inequality

• One camp sees EU regulation as pro‑consumer, preventing US‑style oligopolies and extreme inequality. Unicorns are described as “failures of capitalism,” betting on market domination rather than competition.
• Another camp argues regulation entrenches old elites, blocks social mobility into the very rich, and keeps Europe structurally uncompetitive in tech.
• Several note regulation is a double‑edged sword: GDPR‑style data rules praised; trivial or absurd licensing rules and overregulation mocked as trust‑eroding.

Free Speech, Hate Speech, and Defamation

• Large subthread on whether Europe is “freer” than the US centers on German and UK speech laws.
• Examples: police raids and prosecutions over online insults, memes, and edited photos of politicians; broad hate‑speech and insult statutes; terrorism and “harmful but legal” speech provisions.
• Defenders say:
  • These are edge cases, often corrected on appeal or found unlawful later.
  • Laws target defamation, incitement, and Nazi/fascist propaganda, justified by history and Popper’s “paradox of tolerance.”
• Critics argue:
  • Criminal defamation and “insult” laws create chilling effects, particularly when wielded by powerful politicians.
  • Satire becomes legally risky when authorities demand that it be clearly labeled or “obvious” to the least sophisticated audience.
  • Visa revocations and harsh treatment around Gaza/Palestine speech in both Europe and the US show convergence toward repression.

Authoritarianism, BRICS, and Comparative Freedom

• Some commenters provocatively claim BRICS countries are now “freer”; others reply that lack of free elections, political assassinations, and repression in Russia, China, Iran, etc., make that comparison absurd.
• There is also skepticism that the US or EU have full moral high ground, given lawfare, political prosecutions, or intelligence overreach; one commenter calls all sides “lost to China” in terms of decisive state-backed innovation.

EU Governance, Far Right, and Corruption

• Commenters warn that Europe is not immune to authoritarian drift: Hungary and (formerly) Poland are named as cases, plus far-right parties across the continent.
• However, proportional systems and stronger parliaments are seen as structural brakes on “one-man rule” compared to a strong-presidency system.
• Foreign influence, especially Russian financing of certain parties and scandals (e.g., Wirecard, alleged spy networks), is mentioned as a driver of re‑armament and stricter enforcement.

Surveillance, Encryption, and Digital Rights

• Several people argue the “land of the free” label is incompatible with EU pushes for client-side scanning, encryption backdoors, and broad online speech controls.
• Others counter with US analogues (NSA revelations, EARN IT Act, campus crackdowns), framing this as a shared Western slide rather than an EU‑only problem.
• Prediction from some EU‑friendly voices: the strictest scanning proposals would likely be struck down by EU courts, but the fact they exist at all is seen as alarming.

Economy, Taxation, and Everyday Freedom

• High taxation of top earners is described as both democratic choice and anti‑entrepreneurial drag, depending on viewpoint. Some argue rich individuals simply reclassify income as capital gains or leave.
• European bureaucracy is portrayed as a major deterrent to entrepreneurship compared to the US “build first, fix later” ethos—yet also as a partial shield against the worst excesses of unregulated tech, grifters, and disinformation.
• Commenters emphasize that neither US nor Europe is a “dreamland of freedom”; they just have different mixes of constraints: the US with violent policing, health insecurity, and billionaire dominance; Europe with criminal speech laws, surveillance pushes, and economic sclerosis.