They are avoiding it. Essentially they are voting themselves off the island to avoid having to play nice with the other inhabitants.

They're already on the one big island... they've just decided not to worry about the other big island across the sea yet because the one they're on is big enough for the time being.

I think I'd use the term 'putting it off for later'. Almost like technical debt. I'd probably look more seriously at GDPR compliance at about the same time I start working on internationalization and localization.

These are things I can put off until later, I don't need them to validate my startup concept. If the startup is successful, it might make sense to expand the market.

Companies can choose with whom and where they want to do business. The entire world is not entitled to everything Silicon Valley makes.

Considering Facebook even actively tracks non-users, where's the "users" choice of not participating in that glorious Silicon Valley invention?

As far as I can tell, the "user" doesn't have a whole lot of choice there and Facebook isn't the only company doing that kind of aggregated data collection.

Facebook is based in Ireland ostensibly for tax reasons.

I see them as a very poor example of good things coming out of Silicon Valley...

I'd agree with that if Facebook would be that single outlier nobody wants to emulate.

But Silicon Valley isn't a monolith where everybody is on the same page about everything, I have no doubt there's plenty of people in SC who consider FB a success-model to be followed into a shining future.

Is anyone denying that they have that right?

I mean... there's plenty of other islands where they can still make money, so why should they even bother?

...the other inhabitants who insist on maintaining control over the coconuts.

If “fighting over coconuts” is not on their list of things they wish to do, it’s not a completely absurd choice.

That might be a great point if most of the costs of compliance actually did much good for data subjects.

Yeah but what they actually do is removing themself from market place. If I were looking for a startup, I would check for someone banning EU users, with prospective idea and copy what they have done, but GDPR oriented and voila, I am first on the market, slowly taking over the original site bussiness in EU and later the world. EU is a huge marketplace and you really need to be extremly short minded to avoid it due to some stupi legislation, not to mention that as a US cityzen I would abandon any site not going for GDPR compliancy as they are saying to me, between the lines, "we are bastardising my data". Like seeing a laser pointer on your forehead.

Will that work if noncompliant company is offering its service for FREE* by funding everything selling data and you have to charge/use less valuable static ads? Just having a larger market doesn't automatically make you're product more successful, especially when that larger market needs more mundane localization efforts that the average startup probably won't invest in for a couple years GDPR or not

Plus, blatently ignoring regulation is cheaper in the short term, and if you successfully leverage that advantage into revenue than you can start throwing money at the problem once the regulators finally do get around to prosecuting you.

Worked for Uber.

For my money, it hasn't worked for Uber until they start generating bucket-loads of cash.

I do agree with your overall point though.

People already copy successful startups for international markets all the time, it's just the nature of the business.

Only if your audience doesn't give a fuck about originality and community. You can't copy those. Even people in the EU care about who's fake and who's real.