Tech corporations are frequently slapped with hefty fines for price fixing, crushing competitors, or data misuse, but often, they avoid paying a single cent for years, Tech Giants Fines Compliance.
Meta, for example, hasn’t paid any part of the €2 billion (about $2.2 billion) fine imposed since last September, according to the Irish Data Protection Commission. Similarly, Amazon is still appealing against a €746 million (approximately $815 million) fine since 2021. Google is contesting fines over €8 billion from the EU for abusing its market position between 2017 and 2019, and Apple has been fighting a French antitrust fine of €1.1 billion (around $1.2 billion) and a tax payment of €13 billion (about $14.2 billion) to Ireland.
The problem is global, involving technology companies of all sizes, not just the big four. This week, Australia announced that platform “X” (formerly Twitter) hasn’t paid fines related to failing to outline plans to eliminate child sexual assault content, while “X” is currently countering with a lawsuit.
Critics argue that fining tech companies doesn’t stop their bad behavior and call for stricter measures. Margarida Silva from the Corporate Europe Observatory believes that tech companies have always been linked to “disruption” and that not paying fines is consistent with how they have largely defied any rule enforcement. She notes that even if a company eventually loses, by that stage, it would have dragged the administration into spending for years.
Romain Rard, a lawyer at the Paris office of “Gide Loyrette Nouel”, sees it logical for companies to appeal against hefty fines, but this doesn’t mean they can ignore the fines and defy decisions hoping to escape without paying anything.
While some companies have successfully reduced or canceled fines, like “Intel” and “Qualcomm” recently, the situation in Europe differs from judicial systems like China or the USA, where fines often come at the end of a long process and are announced as part of settlements. For instance, in 2019, Facebook paid a record $5 billion fine to the Federal Trade Commission for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and in 2021, “Alibaba” informed investors that it immediately paid a record fine of about $3 billion to Chinese regulators.
Activists believe that these companies are so wealthy that financial penalties hardly affect them. Max Schrems, an Austrian lawyer and strong advocate for data rights in Europe, points out that the problem is exacerbated by uneven rule application. He criticizes the Irish Data Protection Commission for being too lenient with companies in appeal processes and imposing very low fines.
Graham Doyle, the Deputy Commissioner of the Irish Data Protection Commission, defends their record, emphasizing that fines are only part of the issue. He highlights the corrective measures imposed, like an investigation into Instagram’s handling of children’s data. Activists agree that fines can only be part of the solution.
Silva suggests that instead of leniency in imposing financial penalties, it’s time for competition regulators to intensify their efforts. She advocates halting future acquisitions and mergers in this sector, revisiting past damages, and perhaps even breaking up companies. Silva contends that Meta’s problem would have been entirely different had it not been allowed to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp.
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