The two tech firms have reacted angrily, with Meta accusing the EU of “attempting to handicap successful American businesses” and Apple saying it was being “unfairly targeted” and forced to “give away our technology for free.”
I do love the sound of billion dollar MNCs crying that the law applies to them.
If they don’t like the rules they can stay home. If Its too hard to operate in the EU then perhaps they need to stop gathering info on EU citizens and selling in the EU market.
I wish the EU did all those things they are accusing. “Unfairly targeting successful American businesses”? Great! Thats another 7 Eurofighters.
The fines are relatively small given the tech companies’ huge worldwide revenues - and are a fraction of Google’s €2.4bn fine from last September.
But they are significant in the context of the current global economic situation.Don’t forget they have to convert the fines from USD. They should probably pay up asap 😅
Zuck and Pinchai right now googling “Ursula von der Leyen inauguration fund”