I was watching an episode of Star Wars Bad Batch where Omega did something that would almost certainly be epically difficult or impossible in modern society (not going to spoil it with specifics tho) especially as fast as she did it. It occurred to me that the safety regulations that would be in place today would prevent that scene.

My mind took it to the extreme and I was led to ponder the effects of bureaucracy and regulations on a galactic scale, and it occurred to me that by the time humanity colonizes Mars the amount of regulations could snarl up those efforts, but failure to do so could be catastrophic.

For instance Earth could decide to regulate the heck out of travel to Mars to prevent contact with an alien pathogen. Or it might not be just Mars but planets outside the star system. Every planet humanity touches is being touched by every other planet we land on (kind of like sex), increasing the potential complexity of preventing contact with otherworldly pathogens. Proper mitigation of this could leave every one of those planets wrapped up tightly in red tape. Failure to do so, however, could lead to an interplanetary alien Superflu or braaaaaaaains.

Different planets may have wildly different species that reside there. Insufficient regulation could lead to an epidemic of invasive species wrecking alien ecosystems. We have that in multitudes now on Earth.

There is also the example of hypothetical linear FTL travel like the Alcubierre drive which could lead to dumping high-energy particles on a planet on arrival, destroying the planet. Over-regulation could end the use of the Alcubierre drive and if that's the only path to FTL travel, well that pretty much ends any hope of colonization. But under-regulation means the loss of a bunch of colonies due to frequent accidents... again ending any hope of colonization.

Could red tape function like a Great Filter in that it could grind innovation to a halt and lead to stagnation? Under-regulation would most certainly be an outright true Great Filter in its own right due to the immense risks involved. The actual incident leading to total catastrophe would be the consequence of insufficient regulation.

I think this concept is worth being a major plot point in a science fiction story. IIRC in reality finding that sweet spot with technological regulation is in its own right going to be the difference between the march to Kardashev-2/3 or ruin/extinction. (We're seeing that right now with climate change.)