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Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

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Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#141

Post by pjerem »

McDyver wrote: post #109
kernal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple should play their Trump card and threaten to pull out of the EU. The EU would blink first because the public backlash would be career ending.

That would be a net win for Europe, European citizens and companies. As soon as Apple/Meta/Google/... sulk and leave, other companies would find the space to grow and fill that space with similar products which would respect the users. Users outside of Europe would realise it's possible to have those kinds of products without abusive practices, and would start demanding Apple/Meta/Google/... for the same.

I don’t think we need the GAFAM to leave to obtain this situation, strong and meaningful regulation (like the DMA) should be enough to make room for sane competition.

Also, the EU is really smart here because they are not doing protectionism. So if GAFAM decides to leave, they’ll take the risk of new competitors which would have no reason to be banned from the US market.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#142

Post by hulitu »

pjerem wrote: post #127
Kwpolska wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an EU parliament election in a few weeks or so, how is that undemocratic?

The EU Parliament can’t make decisions, it can only veto the commission which acts as an unelected government (nominated by elected representatives of each country). But I agree with you that this idea of an undemocratic EU is rather false and really dangerous. Everyone feels like this because nobody understands that the commission don’t represent the interests of their country but those of all the European countries…

> The EU Parliament can’t make decisions,

So it has no power

> that this idea of an undemocratic EU is rather false and really dangerous

Of course it is false and dangerous. Any disturbance in lobby money, flowing to the corrupt, unelected politicians, is false and dangerous. /s

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#143

Post by freetanga »

bitpush wrote: post #74
yard2010 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excuse me for my nativity but can't they just buy back a trillion more stocks or something, keeping the stock price where it is no matter what? I don't think something can really hurt your income when you have that much money.

Apple's cash reserves are not infinite. And any desperate attempt to "hold up" the price will be punished by the market. This is very different from usual $15B stock buyback, which you can explain but try doing it with $200B and you are seriously weakening the company.

The executives role is to increase share price and Company evaluation for shareholders.

If all you can do is sit on a pile of cash without any good ideas on how to turn that cash into larger profits, or you just burn it to buy stock back or give dividends, it is a way of saying “I have no vision for the future of this company, I don’t know what else we can do, we will not continue to grow aggressively, so might as well take the cash dear shareholder”

Not a great move in front of the board. Done marginally is fine, sends a “we made more that we can use” cocky statement. Doing it massively to keep stock afloat, means you are out.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#144

Post by llm_trw »

lispm wrote: post #137
davidgerard wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep. From Baldur Bjarnason: > For months, we’ve been hearing leaks about Apple’s talks with the EU about the Digital Market Act. Those talks were not negotiations even though Apple seems to have thought they were. https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/facing-reality-in-the-e... The EU cannot allow a large business to mess around like this.

> The purpose of is the EU single market That's also a misconception. The EU single market is an important project, but there is a constant failure to understand the actual reason why the EU exists or also a purposeful misinterpretation. Countries joining the EU are requested not to join because of the single market, but because they want to join the political project of a more peaceful and an improving Europe. At it…

The EU started as the European Coal and Steel Community which explains most of the beurocracy its saddled with.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#145

Post by shadofx »

throwaway_qiwuw wrote: post #71
makeitdouble wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do not believe this would be in any way detrimental to Apple They wouldn't be ropped in kicking and screaming if that really was the case.

Much like my 8 year old, I think they lack the perspective to behave like an adult here. Several companies have fought what they thought were unwanted regulations only to view them as useful later on. Time will tell if they were right to kick and scream or not.

They have a fiduciary responsibility to kick and scream as much as possible, then turn around and pitch it as a new feature once the rule is passed. If they really thought that they'd lose tons of money they would avoid drawing attention to it, and quietly pour money into bribing officials and sabotaging Android.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#146

Post by rcbdev »

llm_trw wrote: post #144
lispm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The purpose of is the EU single market That's also a misconception. The EU single market is an important project, but there is a constant failure to understand the actual reason why the EU exists or also a purposeful misinterpretation. Countries joining the EU are requested not to join because of the single market, but because they want to join the political project of a more peaceful and an improving Europe. At it…

The EU started as the European Coal and Steel Community which explains most of the beurocracy its saddled with.

How do coal and steel production imply a high bureaucratic load?

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#147

Post by [deleted] »

paganel wrote: post #138
MrDresden wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are taking the side of a 3 trillion dollor consumer goods company's bottom line, rather than 500 million people's right to choice and privacy. You do realise that, don't you?

The ghouls in Brussels do not represent us all, they do not represent anyone, if we’re talking democracy. It’s a battle over clout and economic resources between whoever is backing these technocrats and some of the biggest corporations in the world, most of us EU citizens have a lot of more important worries on our minds.

[deleted]

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#148

Post by malermeister »

paganel wrote: post #138
MrDresden wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are taking the side of a 3 trillion dollor consumer goods company's bottom line, rather than 500 million people's right to choice and privacy. You do realise that, don't you?

The ghouls in Brussels do not represent us all, they do not represent anyone, if we’re talking democracy. It’s a battle over clout and economic resources between whoever is backing these technocrats and some of the biggest corporations in the world, most of us EU citizens have a lot of more important worries on our minds.

They represent me and my fellow non-extremist citizens. Is the EU perfect? No. Is it better than any alternative? Yes.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#149

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Animats wrote: post #129

The EU is also grinding forward towards classifying all gig workers controlled by "platforms" as employees, with the platform subject to all employment laws. See "Improving working conditions of persons working through digital labour platforms "[1] Background: [2] Last vote in the European parliament: 554 votes in favour, 56 votes against and 24 abstentions. This is somewhat weakened but still stronger than anything…

Uber should be worried, but also because they are no longer cheaper than the established competition (taxis) that already had the labour laws in place.

Re: Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead"

#150

Post by martimarkov »

llm_trw wrote: post #144
lispm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The purpose of is the EU single market That's also a misconception. The EU single market is an important project, but there is a constant failure to understand the actual reason why the EU exists or also a purposeful misinterpretation. Countries joining the EU are requested not to join because of the single market, but because they want to join the political project of a more peaceful and an improving Europe. At it…

The EU started as the European Coal and Steel Community which explains most of the beurocracy its saddled with.

It’s like saying the US started as a colony and that explains the lack of its progressive democracy and having a static constitution.

Just because something started as X doesn’t mean that evolution didn’t happen. The reasons for the bureaucracy are a lot and different but come down to power sharing between the stakeholders.

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