All of Europe is stomping all over free speech.<p>Take Mr. Habeck (German politician). He is having more than 600 people criminally prosecuted for calling him a "Schwachkopf" (that is a very, very mild insult). One citizen journalist reported on this, including the meme that people had been sharing, then wondered "oh dear, is reporting on this going to get me prosecuted?". Yes, it did.<p>Or take an anecdote from Scotland. As Vance described in his Munich speech: It is illegal to protest within 200 meters of an abortion center. 200 meters is quite a distance, and includes a number of private dwellings. People living in those dwellings were informed that it is therefore illegal for them to say anything against abortion <i>in the privacy of their own homes</i>.<p>Those are just two of many, many examples. A lot of this is driven by politicians fearing for their power. Looking back to Germany, the attempts to shut out the AfD have backfired spectacularly: the AfD will soon be the most popular party in the country. Which scares the established political parties more, which make them more repressive, which drives more people to the AfD, which...well, you get the idea. FWIW, no, the AfD is not extreme - read their party program. They are, however, becoming a serious threat to the established parties.<p>You can find similar stuff throughout Europe, and especially within the EU. The EU itself, driven by the (unelected, corrupt) commission is behind a lot of it. Ms. LePen cannot run for office? Why, then, can Ms Van der Leyen hold office when she was convicted on much more serious corruption charges several years ago?<p>To add salt to the (potential) wound, TFA says that the EU wants to base a potential fine on the value, not only of X, but also of other companies. That would be incredibly...let's say, "creatively extralegal".<p>The EU wonders why their are so few tech startups in Europe. They need only look in the mirror...