Tag: eu

EU Tech Laws Erect Digital Iron Curtain

Over the past decades, Europe has created little of real relevance in terms of technological platforms, social networks, operating systems, or search engines.

In contrast, it has built an extensive regulatory apparatus designed to limit and punish those who have actually innovated.

Rather than producing its own alternatives to American tech giants, the EU has chosen to suffocate existing ones through regulations such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The DSA aims to control the content and internal functioning of digital platforms, requiring the rapid removal of content deemed “inappropriate” in what amounts to a modern form of censorship, as well as the disclosure of how algorithms work and restrictions on targeted advertising. The DMA, in turn, seeks to curtail the power of so-called gatekeepers by forcing companies like Apple, Google, or Meta to open their systems to competitors, avoid self-preferencing, and separate data flows between products.

These two regulations could potentially have a greater impact on U.S. tech companies than any domestic legislation, as they are rules made in Brussels but applied to American companies in an extraterritorial manner. And they go far beyond fines: they force structural changes to the design of systems and functionalities, something that no sovereign state should be imposing on foreign private enterprise.

In April 2025, Meta was fined €200 million under the Digital Markets Act for allegedly imposing a “consent or pay” model on European users of Facebook and Instagram, without offering a real alternative. Beyond the fine, it was forced to separate data flows between platforms, thereby compromising the personalized advertising system that sustains its profitability. This was a blatant interference in its business model.

That same month, Apple was fined €500 million for preventing platforms like Spotify from informing users about alternative payment methods outside the App Store. The company was required to remove these restrictions, opening iOS to external app stores and competing payment systems. Once again, this was an unwelcome intrusion and a direct attack on the exclusivity-based model of the Apple ecosystem.

Other companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and even X are also under scrutiny, with the latter particularly affected by DSA rules, having been the target of a formal investigation in 2023 for alleged noncompliance in content moderation.

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Only One European Country’s Cannabis Policy Is Actually Undermining The Illicit Market

In the last several decades, Europe has made significant strides in its approach to legalized cannabis use, moving from strict criminalization and prohibition to decriminalization and legalized medical and adult-use models. In addition to expanding healthcare and adult-use access to cannabis use, it’s also important to discuss what impact these varying policies have in counteracting the foothold of illicit cannabis markets throughout the European Union.

Under E.U. law, many countries encounter hurdles in legalizing adult-use commercial cannabis, as they likely would be subject to penalties under the European Court of Justice. For this reason, several countries—including the Netherlands, Malta, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany—have taken unique approaches to cannabis policy.

Germany, however, stands out in terms of producing a measurable impact to push back against the illicit cannabis market.

The Netherlands: A Tolerance Model Without Market Control

Long seen as a pioneer, the Netherlands’ approach to cannabis is based on tolerance rather than legalization. Adults can purchase small quantities of cannabis from Dutch “coffee shops,” which are tolerated but not fully legalized. These shops are forced to source products from an illegal supply chain due to a lack of legal production.

In terms of impact, the tolerated model might seem like a considerable way to go, as every adult in the Netherlands can access coffee shops. However, in terms of control, product safety and regulation, the Dutch cannabis system is vulnerable, as the whole value chain is not regulated and the products are produced illegally for the coffee shops.

Due to the drawbacks of the tolerance model, the Netherlands has just initiated its Weed Experiment. The experiment will allow coffee shops in 10 municipalities to sell legally produced and supplied cannabis. A report on the results of the closed-loop experiment is expected for 2028.

Malta: Liberal on Paper, Constrained in Practice

Malta decriminalized cannabis use in 2015 and, in 2021, became the first European Union country to allow the cultivation and private personal use of cannabis. However, the market remains heavily restricted.

The government permits adult cultivation of cannabis (up to four plants) and personal possession of seven grams when away from home and 50 grams at home. The country also legalized nonprofit cannabis associations that can distribute cannabis to their members. These clubs are limited to 500 people, and membership is only available to residents. However, the public consumption, transportation and sale of cannabis are still banned and can result in fines.

With club membership strictly limited, public consumption outlawed and no other options for adults to legally purchase cannabis outside of the nonprofit associations, the market remains very limited. As of May 2025, no public information is available detailing the exact amount of cannabis provided by these associations to their members.

Luxembourg: Legalization Without Access

In 2021, Luxembourg legalized cannabis cultivation for adult use. However, it wasn’t until two years later, in 2023, that the country defined its legal cultivation and possession rules for personal use. Under the law, adults can grow up to four plants and possess three grams. However, consumption, transportation, and sale in public spaces are still banned and can result in fines.

As reported by the Luxembourg Times, 46.3 percent of the country’s residents have tried cannabis at least once in their lives, including 14.2 percent who have used the plant within the last year and 7.8 percent in the past month, according to an ILRES poll. Just under seven out of ten people who grow cannabis at home said they started cultivation after the government legalized home grow, amounting to just 11.5 percent of recent users.

Despite homegrow gaining moderate interest from residents after legalization, there has not been a significant growth in users, and this has not resulted in an explosion in the market. For now, the market remains stagnant and limited in counteracting illicit sellers due to the country’s lack of legalized sales marketplaces as well as restrictions on public consumption.

Switzerland: Research-Oriented but Limited in Scope

Switzerland has taken a scientific approach through pilot programs across seven major cities to determine the viability of cannabis legalization and controlled distribution within the country over 10 years.

While the pilot programs are set up to allow recreational cannabis commerce at a local level, in terms of true societal impact, this initial rollout does not serve as a solution to counteract the illicit cannabis market. This is mainly due to the limited availability of the majority of Swiss residents. Only Swiss residents who have previously established histories of using cannabis can purchase through the pilot program entities. These pilot programs are also limited to a maximum of a few hundred or a few thousand participants.

Germany: A Functional, Scalable Legal Medical Market

Germany’s cannabis market is widely hailed as one of Europe’s most progressive. On April 1, 2024, the country passed The Cannabis Act (CanG), reclassifying cannabis as a non-narcotic. Through this, administrative burdens were eased for medical cannabis patients and prescribing doctors. CanG also allows possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis and cultivation of up to 3 plants, and it permits the rollout of not-for-profit cannabis clubs.

In January 2025, my medical cannabis company, Bloomwell Group, released its “Cannabis 2024 in Germany: A new era for patients in Germany” report. According to the report, in December 2024, the number of prescriptions issued increased by a little less than 1,000 percent compared to March 2024, following the reclassification of cannabis. The rise of patients who are now able to access cannabis for various medical conditions signals a shift in the perception of cannabis being used for its wellness properties in the medical space.

Telemedical technology in the sector has also positively impacted growth and counteracted the illicit market. Telemedical platforms offer convenience for patients and the physicians who prescribe their treatment. This is extremely helpful to patients who are located in rural or isolated areas of Germany and have geographic limitations in accessing healthcare professionals for their medical needs.

The Bloomwell report also revealed that medical cannabis prices dropped to an all-time low by the end of 2024. During October and November 2024, select strains were available for just €3.99 per gram, a stark contrast to previous pricing models. These decreases are due to a steady supply and increased demand for medical cannabis as the number of self-paying patients continues to soar.

Such demand continues to open doors for international imports of medical cannabis to supply the growing market. Just in the first quarter of 2025, more than 37 tonnes of cannabis for medical or scientific purposes have been imported to Germany, according to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).

Unlike other legalized markets, like California in the U.S., which fell victim to being dwarfed by a behemoth illicit market, the passage of CanG served as a catalyst to boom the German medical market, and with more patients able to access cannabis, prices of the plant actually decreased. This allowed the legalized medical market to stay competitive with the illicit market.

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Shocking Data Shows Massive Demographic Transformation In Europe

New data showing the percentage of people not speaking German at home in Austria underlines just how massive the demographic transformation has been in the country, according to a Hungarian economist.

“Ominous winds are blowing in the West,” economist Géza Sebestyén posted on his Facebook page, along with some astonishing data.

“According to the latest Austrian statistics, one-third (32.8%) of primary school pupils in Austria are non-native German speakers. In cities, the proportion is even higher: in Salzburg, for example, one in two children (51.8%) do not speak German at home,” he noted. 

The post featured a map breaking down each region of Austria, showing the huge share of children not speaking German at home as their first language.

Sebestyén, the head of the MCC Economic Policy Workshop, showed that Hungary could have ended up like Austria if it had not followed the policies of Viktor Orbán, who sealed the border and rejected mass immigration. He warned that Hungary could feature a multiculturalism that Austrians increasingly find alienating and fraught with crime.

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EU Commissioner Defends EU’s Censorship Law While Downplaying Brussels’ Indirect Influence Over Online Speech

As the European Union moves aggressively to shape online discourse through the Digital Services Act (DSA), EU Commissioner for Technology Henna Virkkunen has been deflecting scrutiny abroad, pointing fingers at the United States for what she describes as a more extensive censorship regime.

Relying on transparency data, she argues that platforms like Meta and X primarily remove content based on their own terms and conditions rather than due to DSA directives. But this framing misrepresents how enforcement works in practice, and downplays the EU’s systemic role in pushing platforms toward silence through legal design, not open decrees.

Virkkunen highlighted that between September 2023 and April 2024, 99 percent of content takedowns occurred under platform terms of service, with only 1 percent resulting from “trusted flaggers” authorized under the DSA. A mere 0.001 percent were direct orders from state authorities.

On paper, this paints a picture of platform autonomy. But in reality, the architecture of the DSA ensures that removals appear “voluntary” precisely because they are incentivized by looming regulatory consequences.

Under the DSA, platforms are held legally accountable for failing to remove certain types of content.

This liability drives a strong incentive to err on the side of over-removal, creating a culture where companies preemptively censor to minimize risk. Virkkunen frames these decisions as internal, but in truth, many of them reflect anticipatory compliance with European legal expectations.

The fact that content is flagged and removed “under T&Cs” does not indicate independence, it reflects a strategy of risk avoidance in response to EU enforcement pressure.

This dynamic is by design. The DSA doesn’t rely on high numbers of direct takedown orders from governments. Instead, it outsources content control to the platforms themselves, embedding speech restrictions in the guise of corporate policy.

The regulatory burden falls on private actors, but the agenda is shaped by Brussels. Delegating enforcement doesn’t dilute state influence; it conceals it. The veneer of decentralization does not remove the fact that the state has created the framework and exerts ongoing leverage over what platforms consider acceptable.

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European Commission Launches €5.69M European Fact-Checking Funding Network to Advance “Democracy Shield” and Expand Censorship Infrastructure

The European Commission has launched a €5 million initiative presented as a fact-checking support program; but beneath the surface, it reads as yet another calculated step toward institutionalizing censorship across the European Union.

This call for proposals is marketed as a tool to “protect democracy” and combat “disinformation,” but the structure, goals, and affiliations of the program point clearly to the opposite: a top-down, publicly funded apparatus for narrative enforcement.

Slated to run until September 2, 2025, the project is open not only to EU Member States but also to candidate countries like Ukraine and Moldova; jurisdictions framed as highly vulnerable to “foreign interference,” especially pro-Kremlin disinformation.

This strategic framing serves a dual purpose: justifying increased surveillance of content and securing narrative dominance in geopolitically sensitive areas.

The program’s core deliverables; protecting fact-checkers from so-called “harassment,” creating a centralized repository of “fact-checks,” and building emergency “response capacity;” sound benign to some. But stripped of the euphemism, this is a blueprint for constructing a continent-wide content control grid.

The “protection scheme” offers legal and cyber assistance to fact-checkers, but more crucially it reinforces the narrative that opposition to these groups constitutes abuse rather than legitimate disagreement.

The “fact-check repository” enables centralized curation of what counts as “truth,” and the “emergency response” function gives the Commission a pretext to fast-track suppression efforts in politically sensitive moments.

Most telling is the program’s requirement that participating organizations be certified by either the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) or the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).

Many of their members, such as AFP and Full Fact, already work directly with major social media platforms like Meta under third-party moderation schemes. This effectively means the EC is reinforcing an exclusive gatekeeper class, already aligned with corporate censorship programs, now endowed with taxpayer funds and the backing of the European bureaucracy.

At least 60% of the funding will go to third parties, who must co-finance their participation.

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Merkel’s Back, Warns Europe Could Be ‘Destroyed’ Without More Open-Borders

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is back with a message; Europe could be ‘destroyed’ unless they continue to allow millions of ‘non-Europeans’ to flood the bloc.

Criticizing Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s migration policy, Merkel told Southwestern Press Forum in Neu-Ulm last week that efforts to secure borders could have catastrophic consequences.

“I do not believe we can decisively combat illegal migration at the German-Austrian or German-Polish border… I have always advocated European solutions,” she said when asked about Merz’s latest measures adopted by his cabinet – which include a prohibition on asylum applications at all German land borders, with exceptions for pregnant woman, children and other vulnerable individuals – a sharp reversal from Merkel’s 2015 open-border policy.

“Otherwise, we could see Europe destroyed,” she continued.

Critics have called Merkel’s open-border policy “disastrous” after over a million migrants flooded into Germany during the peak of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, while Germany continues to be the top destination for asylum seekers – ‘welcoming’ over 237,000 applicants in 2023, roughly 25% of the bloc’s total, according to EU stats.

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US lawmakers want Soros-linked Polish election ‘violations’ addressed

US lawmakers have called on the European Commission to address suspected election fraud in Poland, voicing concern over what they describe as a biased approach ahead of the country’s June 1 presidential runoff.

In a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast and fellow members expressed “profound alarm” over developments “undermining the integrity of democratic processes” in Poland. The letter cited foreign-funded online campaigns backing liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and the Polish government’s refusal to release public funds to the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The concerns centered on political ads favoring Trzaskowski, backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition, which were allegedly financed from abroad. Poland’s digital watchdog NASK earlier this month flagged paid Facebook ads that promoted Trzaskowski while targeting right-wing candidates Karol Nawrocki and Slawomir Mentzen.

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European Kakistocracy Locked In a Forever War Against Russia

Never interrupt your enemy when he is committing serial suicide (in reverse American gore-style, when the serial killer always resurrects). In the case of the EU kakistocracy, serial self-destruction is always a given, and always skyrocketing.

So the EUrocrats in Brussels have just adopted their 17th round of sanctions against Russia – the sky is the limit – targeting nearly 200 tankers of the so-called Russian shadow fleet. The package, endorsed by EU member states, includes proverbial scores of asset freezes and visa bans.

The EU + UK combo is also scheming how to tighten the oil price cap on Russia to $50 a barrel, aiming to “hurt” Russia’s energy revenue.

Cue to a monster pipeline of laughter from the whole Global South, especially India and China. As if they would impeach any vessels of the shadow fleet, or if OPEC+ would care about a puny unilateral EUrocrat oil price cap.

To qualify EU actions as self-destructive anti-intellectualism is actually benign. The IQ of people at the top in Brussels is at dismembered worm level, exemplified by the Estonian batshit crazy chick in theory representing the foreign policy of 450 million EU citizens. Brussels has been reduced to a pathetic Estonian propaganda snake pit with a whiff of British accent.

The SVR has noted how there is a groundswell of despair in Brussels for the “mistake” of appointing the imbecile Estonian, universally known for “absolute incompetence” and a cringing “inability to build bridges” with EU leaders. She has already been removed from EU strategic defense policy planning.

Still, the sanctions package dementia will keep rollin’ on – redacted by careerists with fat salaries who only care about their own retirement gold package.

The next, the 18th, is supposed to be the largest sanctions package in History, according to the Brussels rumor mill, not only accusing Russia of multiples stances of Hybrid War and alleged use of chemical weapons (when it’s actually the neo-nazis of country 404 who resort to it) but targeting several Russian defense sector companies plus companies and intermediaries from third countries supplying sanctioned products to Russia.

Add to it the German BlackRock chancellor actively lobbying for an EU ban on the Nord Stream pipeline – blocking any possibility of a U.S.-Russia business cooperation, already signaled by Trump. This ban will be part of the 18th package.

Cue to Grandmaster Sergey Lavrov, who recently felt the need to emphasize that political EUro-trash banning the return of NordStream are “either sick or suicidal.”

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Outrage as British Trawler Detained by French Navy Days After PM Starmer Betrays Fishing Industry in His ‘Brexit Reset’

Failing British Prime Minister is under fire for his ‘Brexit Reset’ deal with the European Union, in which he basically sold out his Fishing Industries by allowing EU boats unfettered access to the UK’s waters for the next 12 years.

The situation became even more volatile after a British trawler was held in French custody yesterday (24) after it was allegedly caught operating without a license in the English Channel.

Daily Mail reported:

“The Lady T, which is based in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was being held in Boulogne-Sur-Mer on Saturday and now risks being confiscated. She was caught by the Pluvier, a French Navy ship, on Thursday, and the catamaran’s skipper now faces prosecution for fishing for whelks without a license.”

This comes days after Starmer closed a deal with the EU on fishing rights which is seen as hugely favoring the French.

The French Navy’s ‘public service patrol vessel’, the Pluvier, was inspecting in the French Exclusive Economic Zone.

French Maritime Authority spokesman: “’During this operation, which was part of the State’s maritime enforcement, a British fishing vessel was inspected by sailors from the Navy patrol vessel while fishing without a license in French waters.

‘As the offence was proved, the fishing vessel was diverted during the night of May 23rd to the port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer, following the instructions of the Delegate for the Sea and Coastline, acting on behalf of the Regional Prefect, who oversees the fisheries police, for the purpose of initiating prosecution under the authority of the Public Prosecutor.’”

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EU Commission Sues Five Member States Over Censorship Law Non-Compliance

Five EU member countries are being taken to court by the EU Commission for failure to “effectively” comply with the bloc’s online censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).

DSA, and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), are EU’s key regulations often criticized for centralizing the bloc’s power in the digital sphere at the expense of free speech, and tech companies’ business interests – but also, it appears, the sovereignty of member countries.

Among the “May infringements package” covering various areas regulated by the EU is the section dedicated to the digital economy. It is here that the Commission announced legal action against Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.

These countries have been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union; Bulgaria, meanwhile, has been put on notice and may eventually also find itself in court, unless it empowers a national digital services coordinator (DSC, a role established under DSA) and “lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements (of DSA).”

The EU Commission said that designating and empowering DSCs is an essential step in enforcing the DSA rules and “in ensuring the uniform application” of the regulation across the bloc.

Of the five EU members that are already in court, Poland has not designated or empowered a DSC at all, while the other four have done that – but failed to “entrust them with the necessary powers to carry out their tasks under the DSA.”

All five countries have yet to come up with rules regarding penalties for DSA infringement.

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