The flight to Ireland

Twitter is following in Facebook’s footsteps: it’s just announced it is to divide its customers between the United States and the rest of the world, with the former belonging to Twitter, Inc, based in San Francisco, and the latter under the jurisdiction of Twitter International Company in Dublin.

The company hasn’t said as much, but the move is aimed at avoiding the prying eyes of the NSA: from now on, the agency will not be able to ask directly for access to the date of those users, some 77 percent of the total, or 300 million accounts, that are not under US jurisdiction, a change that will also affect other Twitter applications such as Vine or Periscope. Furthermore, the movement protects the company from possible legislative changes affecting privacy that could restrict the exchange of European users’ data with US advertisers.

The decision by companies such as Facebook and Twitter to pack their bags and take their non-US users’ accounts to Ireland should prompt us to look at how some countries create certain competitive advantages for themselves.

Ireland’s success in attracting technology companies to relocate there is doubtless based in part on it tax laws, which are set to be changed, which have contributed to wealth generation and a dynamic and productive economy. Ireland has done very well out of offering companies advantageous fiscal conditions, managing in the process to raise large amounts of money through other taxes, while adapting its education system to favor young people’s employability, and creating an ecosystem of starts active in other countries, as well as creating a lot of specialized jobs with high added value. Furthermore, the country has manage to stand out for other reasons: its privacy legislation is much more tolerant than in the rest of Europe, which makes it an interesting option for companies looking to generate income through advertising.

The United States will remain a major focus of innovation and business development. But it is a cause for concern that US companies are pretty much obliged to protect their international customers by moving their accounts to other countries.

Meanwhile, here in Spain, we have the worst of all worlds: uncompetitive education, a government that still sees technology as a threat, unpredictable laws subject to the pressures of lobbies defending the interests of traditional players in the media, highly restrictive privacy laws, a labor market subject to rigid and outdated laws compared to its neighbors…Would any tech company in its right mind think about relocating to the country where the absurd “right to be forgotten” was born, and the only place on the planet where Google News has had to close, or the nation where you have to pay to provide links?

(En español, aquí)