European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, February 1, 2023Yves Herman | ReutersWhen Gerard de Graaf moved from Europe to San Francisco almost a year ago, his job had a very different feel to it.De Graaf, a 30-year veteran of the European Commission, was tasked with resurrecting the EU office in the Bay Area. His title is senior envoy for digital to the U.S., and since September his main job has been to help the tech industry prepare for new legislation called The Digital Services Act (DSA), which goes into effect Friday.At the time of his arrival, the metaverse trumped artificial intelligence as the talk of the town, tech giants and emerging startups were cutting thousands of jobs, and the Nasdaq was headed for its worst year since the financial crisis in 2008.Within de Graaf’s purview, companies including Meta, Google, Apple and Amazon have had since April to get ready for t …
