'Europe must ban American Big Tech and create a European Silicon Valley'

Visa, Red Tape & Startup Climate

• Several participants describe European work visas as overly restrictive for non‑EU tech workers: tied to a single employer, long durations, and limits on founding startups.
• Domestic entrepreneurs also report “insane” bureaucracy and red tape, especially in countries like Germany and France, making it hard to start and scale companies.
• Some note bright spots (e.g. specific talent visas, DAFT treaty, options to found companies with minimum capital), but others see these as partial fixes within an overall risk‑averse system.
• Fragmented financial and legal markets make cross‑border investment inside Europe harder than in the US, limiting scale.

Capital, Risk Appetite & Innovation

• Disagreement on whether Europe lacks capital: some say there is “eye‑watering” wealth in family offices but a culture of capital preservation; others say the problem is unwillingness to fund pre‑revenue, high‑risk tech.
• Many argue this risk aversion and slower regulatory process prevent a “European Silicon Valley” even if American Big Tech were banned.
• There’s concern that promising European firms are routinely acquired by US companies, turning a startup issue into a competition/monopoly issue.

Banning US Big Tech & Protectionism

• Pro‑ban views: US tech undermines privacy, political autonomy, and creates strategic dependence; protectionism is framed as necessary to incubate local champions (with analogies to China and historic comic‑book bans in Belgium).
• Skeptical views: a late ban without a strong domestic ecosystem would cripple European business (e.g. Microsoft dependencies), invite US retaliation, and likely just recreate homegrown abusers of users.
• Some suggest narrower tools: banning data transfers, regulating contracts, taxing devices with proprietary OSes, mandating interoperability and open source in public procurement.

Regulation vs. Competitiveness

• Critics see EU rules (GDPR, data laws, Cyber Resilience Act, e‑bike rules) as vague, punitive, and innovation‑chilling, fostering a “better safe than sorry” culture.
• Others counter that enforcement is gradual and cooperative, fines are usually modest, no one goes to jail, and regulation is essential to curb consumer‑hostile practices.
• Broader tension: should Europe prioritize quality of life and social protections, even if that means fewer hyper‑scalable tech giants?

Quality of Life, Tech & Values

• Long sub‑thread debates whether US technological dominance actually improves average Americans’ lives compared to Europeans, invoking wages, healthcare, life expectancy, and social safety nets.
• Some argue “American‑style values” (high risk, fast failure, light regulation) are required for a Silicon Valley; others explicitly reject importing that model as incompatible with European social goals.