Who Let the DOGE Out at the Mobile World Congress?

At this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges declared, “Europe needs its own DOGE.” No, this wasn’t a belated cryptocurrency joke. He was referring to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a U.S. initiative to slash bureaucracy by slashing government jobs. In a city like Barcelona, famous for its history of anti-authoritarian resistance, this statement was the rhetorical equivalent of bringing a cat to a dog show. But beyond the...