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This is strong evidence that EU is actually working for the benefit of the general population, and not just for the benefit of the rich.
Not really, just that it doesn't work in favour of this rich guy in particular.
Good enough for me
The problem is that we also have many of these assholes in each of our countries, with the same opinions as Musk (but perhaps a little quieter about it) and with enough resources to also buy politicians and cause damage. It is the citizen's duty to be vigilant. It should be the journalists' duty to expose them, but investigative journalism has been dying, giving way almost exclusively to opinion-shaping commentators.
This rich guy is the richest man in the world thanks also to the business he does in europe. We are talking below a thread about something he said. You are getting fooled hard
Nah, the EU is just "less sellout" than most others. There are terrible things coming from the EU as well. But generally I much prefer living in the EU than pretty much anywhere else.
Or put another way: While there are bad things coming from the EU, there are actually often also pretty good things coming from it. It's all relative of course, but I also can't see another place where I would rather live.
The EU is neo-liberals and neo-conservatives, just like the US. They've recently also stepped up their fear mongering. Guess where this is headed...
Exactly. It's very much a matter of degrees.
Notice how I very carefully wrote "not JUST for the benefit of the rich"
EU is not one sided, it also has a lot of stuff that makes it possible to run a business well, and so it ALSO benefit the rich, but contrary to more corrupt/greedy societies, EU does a lot to also protect consumers and human rights.
I honestly can't imagine where I'd want to go if EU turns further shit than it currently is trying to turn with Chat Control. Many beautiful countries in South America, but they have violent histories and you never know when there's a dictatorship again, either with or without help from the US. South-East Asia maybe? Republic of China seemed nice a decade and a half ago when I was a teenager and didn't know it would be endangered by People's Republic of China. I just watched M13 ride his motorcycle on their roads on YouTube and it was beautiful.
I think currently the best bet for anyone looking to escape from EU if things go bad here (either corporations manage to take hold over too many EU politicians, or Putin attacks my tiny little border country) is Uruguay. I hear they have mostly sensible policies and are good for LGBTQ+ rights (not an issue for me personally, but still a positive because I'd still like my friends to feel safe visiting me if I move to another country and some of them may be affected)
Counterpoint: Chat Control
Which is not a thing, EU does NOT have chat control, it is only a debate, and judging from experience, if they ever make a decision on it, it more likely than not will be quite sensible.
Hate to break it to you, must most member states are supporting chat control by now
https://fightchatcontrol.eu/
Everything can be misrepresented, which is what you are doing. The reason there are talks about this is that it isn't legal within the current framework of EU regulation.
So to make it possible, new regulation is needed!!!
I am very skeptical that any EU country is already doing it, except in ways that are legal within regulation that protect the privacy of EU citizens.
Otherwise it is illegal, and those states are breaking EU regulation, and that is absolutely NOT the responsibility of EU!!
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-10-2025-003250_EN.html
This is an example of the skepticism within EU about breaking the protected privacy.
EU is not perfect, but it is 10 times more perfect than what it is often accused of.
Please state something that is actually wrong, instead of this moronic fearmongering!
I don't think you understand what is being decided here. This isn't about making legal what other countries are already doing, this is creating the framework for countries to introduce this kind of shit legally.
A dismembered chat control version where it is only voluntary.
No chat app is going to voluntarily add it, and even if they did you can easily switch to a chat app that doesn't, which isn't illegal.
Just because there are a bunch of fascists trying to implement it doesn't mean the entire EU is working against the general population. Literally every other instance of the EU doing something has helped the general population. The EU is one of the best things to ever happen to Europe.
To cite bender from futurama:
Hahahahahhahaha.
Oh wait, you're serious? Let me laugh even harder.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Not sure if you've noticed, but "voluntary" usually results in mandatory after a while. We had this happen so often already. Remember the "Voluntary" Code of Conduct on hate speech in the EU? Yeah that started out as voluntary - then there was the DSA, digital services act, which uses the "voluntary" code of conduct as the baseline of determining if they are compliant. So the thing that started out voluntary is not effectively mandatory.
Or, in the US, there was the REAL ID system which was a voluntary system aswell - well, until it wasn't because it is now required to board flights or you'll be denied entry into certain federal facilities if you don't have it.
So no - voluntary isn't voluntary for long. There is usually mission creep which, at some point, makes it mandatory.
Very weak argument, as messaging apps are only popular if people use them - and we know exactly how hard that is for most people. Whatsapp has been shitting on people for years and still it's the most popular messaging app.
That is not the point. The problem isnβt whether people pushing it are "fascists", itβs that the policy is structurally dangerous because it can be used by fascists in the future. Once the framework is in place, changing the rules becomes a matter of weeks.
Of course "the entire EU" isn't acting in bad faith. But harmful laws donβt require bad intent or unanimous malice. They only require a majority that underestimates long-term consequences. And please remember that this would not be the first badly thought out law they had passed.
In germany, there is a saying which roughly translates to: "The opposite of well done is well meant".
This is strong evidence that you are getting all fooled like idiots. You are talking below a thread about something elon musk said
All those upvotes really need to get their heads out of the sand and read the room, the EU is on its way to becoming the US of E and fast.
Pretty stupid comment to make, since this fine to X is clearly evidence of the exact opposite.
Also you vary conveniently omit to qualify your claim in any way. It's just an opinion stated as a fact, but with no evidence.
EU still stands for democracy, international law and human rights. All points where EU is the exact opposite of USA that is abandoning all those ideals, that they used to claim to stand for.
Chat Control and flimsy sactiobs to Russia or Israel say otherwise.
Binary thinking does that to you.
EU has the most heavy sanctions against Russia ever instated in the existence of EU. Some of those sanctions even introduced at great cost.
And many EU countries have sanctions on exporting weapons to Israel. And EU has definitely been critical of Israel for years, also before the current crisis.
And for fucks sake there is no chat control in EU!! You are speculating on an unknown outcome of ongoing negotiations.
You are being unreasonable and irrational. What country or union is acting more fairly respecting democracy, human rights and international law more than EU?
There may be a couple that are better, and then there are 300 that are worse, how the fuck do you imagine EU to do much better than it's already doing?
You are living in lala land.
There is no chat control... yet (that was a very closed call), but worry not, the digital omnibus is on ts way. If that gets rejected, something else will come along to destroy your privacy.. sorry, I mean to save the children.
If your measure is "oh but the others are worse" I guess that says it all.
By all means keep trying to attack me, it's enteirtaining, but you'll be talking to the void.
A democracy among hundreds of millions of people always require compromises.
You are naive, and believe some glossy image matching you personal ideals, and apparently being better than basically everybody else is far from good enough for you.
You are letting perfection stand in the way of progress, your type is outright dangerous, because your thinking is borderline fanatic, because you won't compromise on the reasonably balanced to avoid pure evil.
EU is a work in progress, and has made many improvements since it conception. EU is not going back like USA and Russia, but is standing firm on humanitarian values.