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France fines Apple €150M for “excessive” pop-ups that let users reject tracking

(arstechnica.com)
250 points sebastian_z | 2 comments | 31 Mar 25 17:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.64s | source
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gruez ◴[31 Mar 25 18:36 UTC] No.43538202[source]▶
No good deed goes unpunished. Don't protect users' privacy, and you get flak from regulators for "not doing enough". Protect users' privacy, and you get flak from regulators because it's "too complex and hurts small companies that rely on advertising revenue". You see similar levels of cynicism directed at Google. When firefox banned third party cookies, it was almost universally welcomed, but when Chrome does it the cynics come out and say how it's actually some sort dastardly ploy to cement their position in the ad market because third party adtech firms are disproportionately harmed.
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dinkblam[dead post] ◴[31 Mar 25 19:26 UTC] No.43538803[source]▶
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1. epolanski ◴[01 Apr 25 00:41 UTC] No.43541637[source]▶
You're completely unaware of the financial shenanigans that US tech does in Europe.

I'll just leave you with the fact that Apple across two decades paid pennies in taxes in Italy (claiming few millions in revenues) because they would have bullshit like Apple Ireland selling Apple Italy iPhones for 1000€s and selling them for 1000€s plus vat.

Meanwhile Apple Ireland was buying those iPhones for the pennies it costs to make them (few hundred $ at best) and thanks to Irish corporate taxes being close to non existent (0.5%) Apple has paid virtually nothing for decades.

If you believe that us European voters love our countries to be subsidized by rich American countries you're out of your mind, but what we dislike is being taken advantage over and over.

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2. shuckles ◴[01 Apr 25 03:38 UTC] No.43542594[source]▶
The Double Irish arrangement is 45 years old and used by basically every multinational in Europe.