I like to end each year by asking you all for your predictions about the year ahead, and comparing them with my own. Before we do that, though, I think it’s only fair to check in on
. Overall, I think I did pretty well — which means I should probably try to make more daring predictions this year.Europe cements its position as the most important tech regulator in the world.”I do think Europe extended its lead here in 2022 — particularly over the United States, which didn’t manage to pass a single meaningful tech regulation despite one party having control of the executive and legislative branches.
by 2024 because the European Parliament said so. The tech world that Americans live in is increasingly shaped in Europe, and there are no signs of that changing any time soon.The reality: In 2021, authorities raided Twitter’s offices and threatened employees of Google and Apple in Russia. Threats against platform employees in Russia absolutely did accelerate this year in Russia, thanks to its invasion of Ukraine and everything that came after. Aside from that, though, I saw fewerd instances of government goons roughing up tech workers. Perhaps it happened more behind the scenes; if not, though, here was one where I was happy to be wrong.