The GDPR is long but trivial to read, probably high-school level at worst. The EU website has the full text here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELE... (warning: MASSIVE page)

If that's still too hard, a summarized form can be found at https://www.gdpreu.org

Thank you for showing me the supposedly trivial guide to understanding GDPR. The only thing that website has shown me is that no globally competitive tech company will ever grow out of the EU for the next hundred years or so.

So? Perhaps one of the facets of the GDPR is the EU’s willingness to accept that fostering “globally competitive tech companies” may not be in the best interests of itself or its citizens.

If that's the case, then they are absolute morons.

Yes building tech companies that people love to use and provide high paying jobs does not benefit the citizens of a country

Meth labs also create products with mass appeal and briefly high-paying jobs. Considering how social media is eroding American political discourse, Europe may be better-off in the long run even GDPR is as bad as you imagine.