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0 pointsbenoau2mo ago0 comments

> Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg publicly voiced his dissatisfaction and sought support from Trump, while Apple’s Tim Cook reportedly asked the White House to directly intervene against EU fines imposed on his company.

https://www.euractiv.com/news/widespread-alarm-over-commissi...

Apple even went so far as to demand the EU repeal these laws, and is likely still non-compliant in several ways; for which they should have been fined tens of billions of dollars by now!

https://www.reuters.com/business/apple-urges-eu-regulators-t...

Trump has delivered for them, made it a point of contention for trade deals and threatened sanctions on anyone enforcing them.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-weighs...

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4 comments · 1 top-level

peyton2mo ago· 3 in thread

> they should have been fined tens of billions of dollars by now!

Maybe cartoonishly large fines levied against powerful entities wasn’t such a great idea. Other incentives may have been better suited to getting the populace what they want in the long term.

bryanrasmussen2mo ago

>Maybe cartoonishly large fines levied against powerful entities

right, the tradition is that fines be cartoonishly small so that breaking the law can be factored into the cost of doing business, who the hell does the EU think they are to go against tradition!!?

benoauOP2mo ago

I don't think there is an incentive lawmakers could offer that is worth more to Apple than monopolizing fees and subverting competition, there is practically no limits they will go to to preserve that status quo around the world.

The only time they have eagerly complied with anything relating to this is when Judge YGR gave them this ultimatum, they approved Fortnite a full day early once someone had to be personally responsible for defying her order a second time:

https://x.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1924499498513862720/phot...

AnthonyMouse2mo ago

That seems like a better model than stupefying fines against the corporate entity then. Forget about billion dollar fines, just give them a slap on the wrist while telling them explicitly what they have to stop doing, but then if they keep doing it the executives are personally held in contempt.

It also solves the perverse incentive of "fine the foreign companies as a revenue generation method" because the result is getting them to comply instead of either repeatedly fining them for not doing it or trying to extract a fine so large it becomes an international political issue.

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