4 ms·

It's so easy to tell when Europe is voting on a post versus the US. Fines against these companies are predominantly rent seeking. You should be extra suspicious

It's so easy to tell when Europe is voting on a post versus the US. Fines against these companies are predominantly rent seeking. You should be extra suspicious when the fines are coming from countries where they don't have offices. FTA: > Big Tech companies can further water down the potential sting of these fines by delaying payment for years(new window). They’ve done this by filing appeals, counter-suing, or simply refusing to pay. Some notable examples include: Sorry, but I give the companies the benefit of the doubt here: they have good legal teams and don't generally fight things when they can't win. Fighting these fines isn't evidence that big tech is evil and refuses to follow the low, it's evidence that these countries are rent seeking by charging them bogus fines, which their world-class legal teams (rightly) contest.

hef19898 3y ago
Thr EU is fining EU based companies as well. And all Big Tech companies have offices in the EU. The way proper legal systems work, is both sides litigate a case if they see a chance of winning it, goes for both involved parties. As much as big tech isn't per-se evil for having to pay fines, the governments involved aren't rent seeking...
arp242 3y ago
> You should be extra suspicious when the fines are coming from countries where they don't have offices. They're doing business in these countries, and making a profit from that. Where they do or don't have an office isn't that important: it's about who they're doing business with. And it's really very simple: "obey the law or sod off". If you think that's too much bother then that's completely fair – no hard feelings. Just don't do business then.
- nickysielicki 3y ago
  > Where they do or don't have an office isn't that important: it's about who they're doing business with. It's important because it frames the lawsuit. If the company has a large presence in the country and is employing thousands of high-earning tax payers and leasing expensive offices, then the governments are not likely to bring frivolous fines against the company for no reason. On the other hand, if the company is making money and not paying anything back into their economy, the government has nothing to lose by attempting to extort them. > And it's really very simple: "obey the law or sod off". If you think that's too much bother then that's completely fair – no hard feelings. Just don't do business then. It's completely arbitrary in a lot of these cases. India fining Google $161m for smartphone market dominance and demanding specific remedies like not installing Google Chrome, YouTube, and Google Maps? How the hell was Google supposed to anticipate that? Almost all of these in the table are like this. France fining Microsoft $64m (!) because their advertising cookie opt-out flow was not deemed clear enough? It's not that the flow didn't exist, mind you, it's that the button wasn't on the same page as the "accept cookies" button. Where in French or EU law does that exact requirement exist?
Snow_Falls 3y ago
The miniscule amounts of money fined from companies are not going to affect the EU budget. It is interesting that, whenever a post about the EU comes up, (a small minority of) Americans will act like they are tyrants trodding over the poor billion dollar corporations as if they shouldn't have to follow European laws despite doing business there. If a tourist commits a crime, they're deported. The EU is being incredibly lenient with their fines. In addition, why give them the benefit of the doubt? Seriously, they have violated multiple laws every damn year, sometimes the same laws repeatedly. Why give them any doubt? They obviously do not act in good faith.

hef19898 3y ago

Thr EU is fining EU based companies as well. And all Big Tech companies have offices in the EU. The way proper legal systems work, is both sides litigate a case if they see a chance of winning it, goes for both involved parties. As much as big tech isn't per-se evil for having to pay fines, the governments involved aren't rent seeking...

arp242 3y ago

> You should be extra suspicious when the fines are coming from countries where they don't have offices. They're doing business in these countries, and making a profit from that. Where they do or don't have an office isn't that important: it's about who they're doing business with. And it's really very simple: "obey the law or sod off". If you think that's too much bother then that's completely fair – no hard feelings. Just don't do business then.

nickysielicki 3y ago
> Where they do or don't have an office isn't that important: it's about who they're doing business with. It's important because it frames the lawsuit. If the company has a large presence in the country and is employing thousands of high-earning tax payers and leasing expensive offices, then the governments are not likely to bring frivolous fines against the company for no reason. On the other hand, if the company is making money and not paying anything back into their economy, the government has nothing to lose by attempting to extort them. > And it's really very simple: "obey the law or sod off". If you think that's too much bother then that's completely fair – no hard feelings. Just don't do business then. It's completely arbitrary in a lot of these cases. India fining Google $161m for smartphone market dominance and demanding specific remedies like not installing Google Chrome, YouTube, and Google Maps? How the hell was Google supposed to anticipate that? Almost all of these in the table are like this. France fining Microsoft $64m (!) because their advertising cookie opt-out flow was not deemed clear enough? It's not that the flow didn't exist, mind you, it's that the button wasn't on the same page as the "accept cookies" button. Where in French or EU law does that exact requirement exist?

Snow_Falls 3y ago

The miniscule amounts of money fined from companies are not going to affect the EU budget. It is interesting that, whenever a post about the EU comes up, (a small minority of) Americans will act like they are tyrants trodding over the poor billion dollar corporations as if they shouldn't have to follow European laws despite doing business there. If a tourist commits a crime, they're deported. The EU is being incredibly lenient with their fines. In addition, why give them the benefit of the doubt? Seriously, they have violated multiple laws every damn year, sometimes the same laws repeatedly. Why give them any doubt? They obviously do not act in good faith.