> Limiting access for EU users is an easy way to sidestep a hell of a lot of potential legal liability. It’s a fast-moving and complex regulatory environment that is focused on punishing/controlling big US businesses.
Have you considered a less paranoid explanation, like... focused on protecting Europeans from the abuses of big corporations?
I wanted you and your sibling commenter to know that even though we're probably coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, I meant no malice or schadenfreude by my comment.
Despite being a huge capitalist, I do think there's a sweet spot of very minimal regulation that works out best for everyone.
However, the blocking-the-EU outcome is obvious after a couple of minutes of thinking about it in game theory terms. Another one to look out for is companies (both physical and digital) that never even considered doing business in the EU, but who would have if it were easy.