Post #2754649

2026-05-11 12:51 UTC

We can't afford to start a real war with them because they control far too much of our technology. Yes, we could threaten to block their access to our markets but what if they don't change their behaviour? Do we go through with it? Some of their services are critical to our daily lives and just one day without a few of them and entire systems would collapse. EDIT: Big tech corporations like Google are more powerful than governments. While they are not invulnerable to sanctions, we may lose as much or more than they do if we take drastic action without viable alternatives.

Replies (6)

@UltraMagnus@startrek.website 2026-05-11 14:00

I agree that it's too early, but disagree that it would never be possible. If the EU can successfully move away from Microsoft like they're trying to do now, then I think that will provide an excellent model for moving away from other tech monopolies.

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@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2026-05-11 13:56

This is just looking at the material reality of the problem. I can't effectively threaten someone who I'm heavily dependent on without present alt. Kinda how Trump got slapped when he tried economic coercion on China. If the EU has a domestic alternative to Big Tech's cloud services that's in wide use and easy to scale up, the they can legitimately threaten Big Tech. That said even then that would not be enough given the newly developed dependence on US - LNG. Threaten Big Tech and the US threatens cutting off the gas supply. A gas supply shortage topples governments.

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@Squizzy@lemmy.world 2026-05-11 13:10

The reality is that they are powerful but if they were to become actice participants in some hypothetical war the governments could freeze and withold funds with the swipe of a pen. There are a lot of regs around the freedom of funds and stopping that if there is a legitimate national security risk. The US is doing it right now with funds provided from the EU to purchase weapons for Ukraine. The US is not fulfilling orders because they blew their load murdering innocent children in Iran.

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@justsomeguy@lemmy.world 2026-05-11 13:23

Their power is fragile though. The EU has sanctioned big tech in the past and will do so again. Sure they could screw us over hard but that'd hurt their profits significantly more than complying and as slaves to their shareholders they will not do that. We shall not bow to tech twinks.

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@MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 2026-05-11 13:02

You think Google is going to abandon the EU market over timely releases of their AOSP code and the ability to install apps from outside the playstore?

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@shrugs@piefed.social 2026-05-11 19:14

sometimes you need to be stubborn and disallow all alternatives for better solutions to be developed. trying to use the big tech shit will inevitably always end in enshitification. grow some balls, say no and create alternatives if they don't budge. nothing else will work. and as soon as you have alternatives, everything will get easier

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