Thread by @KayJebelli

A couple weeks ago I started at @ProgressChamber with a vision for a more progressive European tech policy. I thought to add a few more thoughts and data-points to this thread. medium.com/chamber-of-pro…

Tech-policy, especially in Europe, seems at times driven by a dystopian vision of technology pushed by some asking for an economic revolution. Tech companies, which have very little actual political power, have been scapegoated for a lot of society's ills

https://x.com/StiglerCenter/status/1781085452797088048

Governments are scrambling for unchecked powers to protect us from big scary tech, and often cheered on by (sometimes self-interested) press outlets. The underling idea is that we're a victim of a series of policy failures and need a major course-correction.

But these negative narratives aren’t based on numbers. The facts are clear, tech is “one of the greatest economic success stories of recent times” (and not only in the US). In truth, technological progress has given us an age of unrivaled abundance.

https://x.com/AdamThierer/status/1785395997050335543

A lot of the upset is because tech has disrupted traditional hierarchies. Big-media is no longer a gatekeeper to the information or content, big brick & mortar retailers are no longer gatekeepers to brands, and a bunch of legacy middle-men are losing profits.

Legacy gatekeepers have lost their power because everything can be found online and delivered directly to the consumer. On the other hand, differentiated content, product, and service suppliers now have the power to reach previously invisible customers

https://x.com/Prashanth_Krish/status/1349284246569975808

For example, there's a ton of direct-to-consumer brands that simply wouldn't be possible without the low customer-acquisition-costs of personalised advertising. This increased output benefits everyone. It creates abundance. builtin.com/articles/direc…

Artists, voices, and opinions that would never find an audience before now can (even if there are some I would disagree with). There are entirely new careers of "content creator" and "micro-influencer" (even if some don't want to legitimise them as such). There is real diversity.

Yes that can be scary for regressives and reactionaries (and that's where some of the push-back comes from as well), but as someone who doesn't identify with the majority myself, I think it's a good thing.

And let's not forget that tech companies leading the way on sustainability initiatives. More than 70% of the Global 500 technology companies have set net-zero targets by 2030 or earlier, and more than 90% by 2050, far ahead of any other industry group. clim8.com/blog/sustainab…

I firmly believe that we're not going to de-grow our way out of the climate crisis. We need technological advancements if we are going to address the damage that legacy industries have done to our environment.

As far as claims that the tech industry has become less competitive, the data shows that leading tech companies are increasingly competing with each other. economist.com/leaders/2021/0…

The proof is in the pudding. Incredible advances in robotics and artificial intelligence prove the tech industry is still highly dynamic, productive, and innovative. It's the opposite of the ossified stagnation seen elsewhere in the economy.

In other words, there's a lot to be optimistic about. Tech should be seen as a policy success which we seek to extend and replicate.

We should reject the dystopian narrative of the anti-tech lobby as well as nirvana fallacies of interventionists. Regulation should address real harms, not imaginary ones, and trade-offs should carefully assessed.

https://x.com/KayJebelli/status/1783629990443077817

That's not just me saying this. Europe's technology giants recognise this too, warning that digital overregulation is "driving Europe to irrelevance". ft.com/content/6d07fe…

European regulation should be creating more trust in the European digital landscape, leading to more digital activity, but the way it's being enforced has been the opposite; it's causing less digital activity, not more.

https://x.com/KayJebelli/status/1778783345075269922

The GDPR is an important piece of legislation, but it has had a lot of side-effects that weren't accounted for and need to be considered going forwards.

https://x.com/JWaldfogel/status/1523642630483054592

And that's just GDPR, the DMA and DSA came online recently, and before long there will be the AI Act, the Data Act, and the Data Governance Act. And that's just the beginning. @Bruegel_org has a really good overview, and the sheer volume is eye-watering: bruegel.org/dataset/datase…

The digitally-attuned European countries recognise this complexity isn't helpful, and have been pushing for a more digital-friendly approach in the next 5-year mandate (after the European elections this summer)

Specifically, the D9+ have called for “a mid-term review of the acquis of digital regulation focusing on effectiveness, efficiency and coherence, and assessing the economic impact of cumulative digital regulation on innovation and competitiveness”
enterprise.gov.ie/en/publication…

So that's a good first step, but we need more, Europe needs not only to address knee-jerk reactionary interventionism, but she also needs to do something to encourage more European tech for her own long-term success (the two are linked of course) wsj.com/articles/europ…

If you take a step back, it’s clear something has to change. Investor David Galbraith has recently summarised the issue really well:

https://x.com/daveg/status/1784835703743881256

There's a recognition, even from Europeans, that we should focus a bit more on being the first to innovate, than being the first to regulate: "in America you have a lot of AI and no regulation, in Europe you have no AI and a lot of regulation." ft.com/content/58fe78…

Putting the finger on the problem is @levelsio: “Europe has made it very difficult for people to start a business, raise capital, innovate and get the reward for taking that risk, so why would anybody?”

https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1784943280171467260

As @andreasklinger has identified, “You need early acceleration. You need momentum towards your goal. You need traction”, but the EU market is filled with friction. klinger.io/posts/eu-acc

We don’t just need a single market for consumers, we need a single market for founders/entrepreneurs. We need to create what I've called "interoperability between each national tech ecosystem", so that a founder can easily take what they’ve done in one European city to the next.

Again, the D9+ already recognise this “We will actively support the Commission in addressing barriers to innovation and scaling up, improving availability of risk capital in the EU, and developing innovation ecosystems”
enterprise.gov.ie/en/publication…

Another aspect to being more friendly to entrepreneurs is attracting and enabling the smartest people from around the world to come and work in Europe’s tech ecosystems.

https://x.com/JohnSpringford/status/1785706579603419368

It’s been done before. Canada tried it out, and it led to a significant increase in entrepreneurship from immigration.

https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1786570364136415600

In addition to entrepreneurs and engineers, we also need more investors. That's an aspect that is also under-threat from the anti-tech crowd, as they try to make even minor investments so regulatorily expensive that they become unviable.

https://x.com/KayJebelli/status/1763877005106331765

France has done a good job of attracting this kind of investment in the AI space, but these good policies risk being derailed by those who view any partnership with existing players as inherently suspicious. politico.eu/article/why-fr…

Over-regulation, over-intervention, and over-compliance just cuts our own nose to spite our face, and in the end we won't have anything to show for it.

Will we solve all our problems if we address the hostility to tech, and better attract entrepreneurs, engineers, and investment to interoperable national tech ecosystems? No, but it's a start, and the best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now.

I'm confident that Europe can correct course, and I'm really happy to be able to do my part, bringing facts and evidence to the table, with @progresschamber in Europe. If you'd like to support this mission, please reach out.

https://x.com/ProgressChamber/status/1781318157493252453