The article comes from WeChat public account: Tencent Deep Web (ID: qqshenwang) , author: Xue Fang Enron, editor: Xiao Kang

“Compared to the first few days, the Internet speed of children chatting with teachers and friends has dropped significantly, and sometimes there have been freezes,” Li Wei, who is based in Catalonia, Spain, told “Deep Web”.

On March 12, the Catalan government announced the blockade of four towns, including Iguadara, 49 kilometers north of Barcelona, ​​and all local schools will be officially closed from March 13. After the formal suspension of classes, all the “teaching” activities of Li Wei’s son’s school were transferred to gmail mailbox. Because Google prohibits children under the age of 18 from registering accounts, students ’gmail mailboxes are all registered by the school collectively, with the school ’s name as the suffix, and the child ’s name as the mailbox name.

“During school suspension, teachers in various subjects will send students public learning resources or links on YouTube through their mailboxes to allow students to learn independently. They will also arrange and receive challenges (homework) through classes in their mailboxes. Monday to week At 3:30 pm on Friday, the teacher used the chat function in the mailbox to communicate with students online. “

Li Wei told “Deep Web” that not only is the child’s video blocked, but the speed of searching the teacher’s learning resources on YouTube is also much slower.

Video freezes and slow searches are just a microcosm of European Internet congestion during the epidemic. Many countries in Europe have entered the state of “closing the city” one after another. Internet, shopping, learning, and remote office have become the common living conditions of Europeans “squatting at home”, and the Internet usage rate in continental Europe has risen sharply. According to Facebook, since the outbreak in Italy, Facebook’s usage time has increased by 70%, and Facebook Live and Instagram views have also increased.

For this reason, the European Commission has come forward to require online game companies and video sites to take measuresTo limit bandwidth usage in entertainment. However, after the European Commission adopted the policy of “limiting current flow”, most of the actions were carried out by American Internet companies, and most of the European Internet companies “doed nothing.”

Google recently announced that due to the surge in YouTube traffic, it has started to use standard definition (standard definition, SD, 480p) quality video playback; Netflix has also reduced the video bit rate or picture quality on Facebook and Instagram; due to remote office requirements With the surge, Microsoft announced that it will reduce the frequency of file checking and synchronization, the default download settings for content attachments, the clarity of video playback, and online preview of images to reduce server pressure. In addition, due to the rapid increase in residents’ online shopping demand, Amazon has adjusted the types and quantities of products put into storage by platform merchants in countries such as Germany, France and Italy.

American Internet giants ca n’t sit still

As the epidemic spreads globally, hundreds of millions of people are forced to stay at home, and American Internet companies such as YouTube, Facebook, and Netflix are facing unprecedented challenges.

According to data from broadband speed test service company Ookla, the average time for downloading videos, emails, and files has increased as the home order sweeps across the United States, and broadband speeds have decreased by 4.9% from last week. According to data from Broadband Now, a consumer broadband research website, the median download speed in San Jose, California, has fallen by 38%, and New York has fallen by 24%.

In Europe, due to the epidemic, the pressure on the European network is too great. Internet companies such as Netflix and YouTube have announced that they will reduce the quality of their streaming media in the European Union to avoid the Internet from being paralyzed.

On March 21, Netflix officially stated, “Because too many people are hiding at home and watching Netflix killing time, Internet traffic has increased greatly. In order to allow each user to enjoy smooth bandwidth, connectIn the next 30 days, we will temporarily stop providing high-definition programs in Europe and change to the standard standard quality in order to serve the most consumers. It is expected to solve the 25% bandwidth problem. Netflix also stressed that it will still provide high-definition and ultra-high-definition (4K) movie services, and those people who sign up for 4K movie packages will not be affected. “

According to statistics, as of the end of the first quarter of 2019, Netflix has more than 42 million subscribers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, most of which are from the European market. This move will reduce Netflix ’s traffic on the European network by about 25%.

Besides Netflix, YouTube will also reduce the default video quality to standard definition worldwide, and the default will last at least one month, but users can still manually adjust the video quality. In response, a Google spokesperson said, “Under this unprecedented epidemic, we will continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the world to do our utmost to reduce network system pressure to the greatest extent.”

Due to the rapid increase in demand for remote office work, the number of daily active users of the Microsoft team collaboration service Teams has increased significantly, which has led to a sharp increase in pressure on Microsoft servers. To reduce server pressure, Microsoft announced on March 25 that it urgently increased restrictions on Microsoft Office 365 services, including reducing the frequency of file checking and synchronization, the default download settings for content attachments, the clarity of video playback, and online preview of images.

In addition, due to the epidemic, Amazon has imposed restrictions on logistics and distribution services in France and Italy. Users in these two countries can only purchase so-called “essential necessities” through Amazon. Other merchandise orders, such as books, etc. The delivery date will be significantly delayed or will not be accepted.

Hei Mi, a 24-year-old Chinese student in Turin, Italy, told Deep Web that Turin ’s Lombardy region, which is close to the epidemic center, is also quite serious. It has been staying at home for nearly a month so far. Online supermarkets buy food for delivery, but now online supermarkets have been on the verge of collapse.

According to her, Italians seldom use online shopping and delivery staff. Now they must start frantically brushing their websites at 12 midnight. If they are lucky, they can be placed. She and her friends place orders on several supermarket websites at the same time. It took two days to successfully place an order. The delivery time has been more than a week later. The online supermarket I used to only deliver the old pregnant disabled to the door, and then I can’t avoid going to the supermarket to buy fresh food.

Europe ’s “Silicon Valley” is hard to come by

The demand for Internet access in Europe has soared. It is an indisputable thing that American Internet companies took the lead in action. Europe has always been a lowland for mutual benefit companies. None of the top ten Internet companies in the world by market value is a European company. From the perspective of e-commerce alone, the American e-commerce companies Amazon and eBay have firmly occupied Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Spain, the four major European B2C e-commerce markets.

Similarweb data shows that among Germany ’s top ten e-commerce platforms, Amazon and eBay almost monopolized Germany ’s main e-commerce market.

“The usual online shopping is mainly Amazon. VIP users usually arrive within 2 days, but the recent Amazon Germany fresh delivery time page shows that the delivery time in the last week is unavailable.” Liu Fang told “Shenwang”. The major local logistics providers in Germany include Depost (Deutsche Post), DHL, DPD, 90% of Germans like to deliver home, 77% of Germans hope to receive products within 3-5 days after order.

According to Liu Fang, outside of Amazon, German locals will also go to zalando (German local e-commerce platform), home24 (furniture e-commerce), About You (clothing e-commerce), babymarkt.de (mother and baby e-commerce ) Waiting for shopping. Usually the goods will be received within 2-3 days, if you are not satisfied, you can apply for a refund. In addition, compared with other European countries, Germany has a higher return rate. Many people like to buy multiple colors and sizes for the same product. After receiving and trying, they return the unwanted ones.

Amazon and eBay also dominate the UK e-commerce market. According to a report by Edge by Ascential, a global e-commerce research company, Amazon ’s e-commerce market share in the UK increased from 28.8% in 2018 to 30.1% in 2019, with sales reaching US $ 30 billion. eBay followed closely, accounting for 9.8% of the UK’s online market share.


Compared with Germany and the United Kingdom, eBay ’s monthly visits in Spain are after the Spanish local e-commerce companies Milanuncios and El Corte Inglés. Milanuncios is the largest information service company in Spain. Users can not only buy and sell second-hand goods, but also publish advertisements and job searches. El Corte Inglés is a Spanish department store chain with its own online mall, which includes various items such as household goods, electronic products, computers, books, sports equipment and so on.

“Milanuncios and El Corte Inglés are mainly used by local people, but local Chinese online shopping is still mainly Amazon.” Li Wei in Spain told “Shenwang”.

The Internet companies that have grown up in Europe are mostly small and beautiful, making it difficult to get out of the European market.

Take French e-commerce platform vente-privee as an example. vente-privee was established in 2001, but as of the end of 2019, it has 80 million monthly active users and 4 million daily active users worldwide. Vipshop, which also started as a flash sale business, was established 7 years later (2008), but it was successfully listed in the United States in 2012. According to its latest financial report data, Vipshop will reach 69 million active buyers in 2019.

The reason why it is difficult for Europe to breed big Internet companies is related to the natural obstacles, life attitudes and unique policies and regulations of its multilingual environment.

Although Europeans have been economically integrated through the establishment of a “quasi-federal state”, the European Union has also integrated a huge market with its population of 500 million and the economic volume not inferior to the United States The difference in language and culture makes the “fragmentation” attribute of this big market always exist.

Each country in Europe has its own language. “In addition to Chinese, my child also needs to learn Spanish, English, French, and Catalan,” said Li Wei, who is based in Catalonia, Spain. The Internet is pursuing high-speed iteration and operation. The multilingual environment in Europe is a natural obstacle, which makes the cost of developing Internet projects in Europe very high.

“Excessive labor costs have also slowed down the development of European e-commerce, O2O and other Internet development. The average salary of developed European countries is several times that of China. Hiring an employee in the UK, in addition to ensuring its’ minimum living wage ‘Besides, we have to pay various insurances for it,’ Ji Yong, a teacher at a university in West Yorkshire, England, told Deep Web.

According to “Shenwang”, the National Minimum Wage is charged on an hourly basis. The hourly wage depends on the age of the employee rather than the occupation or position of the employee. For example, starting in April 2019, the hourly salary of employees over 25 is 8.21 Euros (about 64 RMB). Subject to higher labor costs, the development of O2O companies in the UK has been tepid.

Taking Deliveroo, a British food delivery platform, as an example, in order to pay the higher wage cost of riders, Deliveroo will charge users 2.5 pounds for each delivery, which is equivalent to a delivery fee of 22 yuan. Europe will not be a public service.

“In addition to language barriers and higher labor costs, the Europeans’ general life-orientated attitude to life also restricts the development of local takeaways and other O2O industries. Most people in Europe hold the concept of “work is for life”, They enjoy the time of three friends and friends eating and chatting together in the restaurant after work. Most of the takeaway services are young people who are in a hurry in big cities. “Li Wei in Spain told” Shenwang “.

(Li Wei, Liu Fang, Ji Yong, etc. in the text are all pseudonyms at the request of interviewees)