E.U. Prepares Major Penalties Against X

I guess at some point the EU has to do something if they want companies to keep implementing these regulations under the calculus of “cost of implementation vs. cost of fines that arise from non-compliance”.

I would love to believe that some companies would follow these regulations even without severe threat, because they’re the right thing to do for users, but I know in a lot of cases it can take significant time, effort, and money to keep up with every regulation coming out of the EU

Companies don't really care about "the right thing to do for users."

They care about maximizing profits from you.

If you're hoping companies are going to "do the right thing for you" on their own, you're probably going to be disappointed.

Once upon a time these companies valued their user base, afraid they would leave and find another way to use their time. I guess they’ve got the data that their users are all addicted and will never do that. At least until they push too hard.