Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#181

Post by mdhb » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:08 PM UTC

weavie wrote: post #152

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are adept at malicious compliance. They just got fined 500 millions for failure to comply so I'm not sure adept is the adjective I would use.

500 million is like half a days revenue.

The actual fines for this moving forward are up to 10% of a companies global revenue. The EU made a big point to say that this is the first time they are issuing those fines and as a result they are smaller than they otherwise would be especially in the case of repeat offenders.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#182

Post by layer8 » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:08 PM UTC

intrasight wrote: post #16

ENGNR wrote: post #6

Would looove to distribute an app without it having to be in the App Store, and not paying the App Store fee (direct download of signed binary). Happy to pay a yearly fee or fee per update to cover code review if it’s crucial. But 30% of revenue for doing bugger all… cmon, they’re squeezing the lemon a bit too hard.

From what I hear, users are tired of installing apps. You can make a website and not face any gatekeepers or restrictions.

Web apps offer a subpar experience.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#183

Post by carlosjobim » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:09 PM UTC

llm_nerd wrote: post #48

xvector wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Canadian small businesses rely on Meta to get customers. If you think these companies don't add value, you are totally oblivious to the millions of small businesses that rely on these platforms to reach customers and niche audiences around the world.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#184

Post by fidotron » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:09 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #174

fidotron wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did the equivalent of saying to Coca Cola if you discover a customer via the App Store then we get a cut of it, which is a very normal and common arrangement, even if disagreeable.

Nope. That's a lie. You're a liar. They didn't start out like that all, and to pretend otherwise is lying.

Yeah, keep slinging the insults.

You are perfectly free to have a website where you list your prices at one price point, and then have them different in the app because of the 30% cut, and that's very normal practice, even if everyone does complain about it.

Btw Google do exactly the same thing.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#185

Post by fidotron » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:12 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #173

fidotron wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you really insist on making an analogy that involves McDonalds: that's like arguing that McDonalds should not be allowed to prevent Coca-Cola from telling Coca-Cola customers that they can buy Coca-Cola in places other than McDonalds. Which, yeah, they're not allowed to. Neither the App Stores or McDonalds have any control over what you do outside of them. That's your problem, individually and collectively.

> [the App Stores does not] any control over what you do outside of them Well, we are talking about Apple's App Store, not just an App Store, and in that case, it's Apple. So, Apple wants to exert control over what you as an app developer do outside of the App Store. That's the problem. The fact that you think that's not happening means you know it's wrong.

No, it's within the App that is distributed on the App Store.

Plenty of companies will charge you different prices for things based on whether you get them via the App Store or their website.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#186

Post by mdhb » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:12 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #176

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of the DMA is clarifying that from the point of view of the European Union, operating a digital market on a platform is not actually like going to a McDonalds. There is no argument to be made by analogy here. The DMA always was clear regarding what constitutes a digital market and what the obligations of the companies operating them would be. If Apple is unhappy about that, they are free to stop opera…

The EU would have a lot more sympathy for this if there were any non trivial digital markets that originated in the EU, with the closest being Spotify, which they somehow claim is not a gatekeeper in the music industry. They aren't being a decent regulatory body on this one, given they have not reflected on why they are in this position, nor are they being fair with applying their rules. (The same comment can be made…

This is a HUGELY popular position the EU is taking WTF are you taking about?

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#187

Post by wasmitnetzen » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:15 PM UTC

iagooar wrote: post #84

The EU is using populist claims to introduce laws with ideological bias (big corp bad, America bad, America corp super bad). Everyone knows the digital act was never meant to be a fair set of rules, it was introduced to punish US companies at will. At the same time, most governments, public offices, agencies and businesses in Europe would not be able to operate normally without access to American software. The proble…

The very idea of this regulation is that Tech Giants are not desirable, since they're mono- or oligopolies.

Any average EU politician would be far left in the US.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#188

Post by StopDisinfo910 » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:16 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #176

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of the DMA is clarifying that from the point of view of the European Union, operating a digital market on a platform is not actually like going to a McDonalds. There is no argument to be made by analogy here. The DMA always was clear regarding what constitutes a digital market and what the obligations of the companies operating them would be. If Apple is unhappy about that, they are free to stop opera…

The EU would have a lot more sympathy for this if there were any non trivial digital markets that originated in the EU, with the closest being Spotify, which they somehow claim is not a gatekeeper in the music industry. They aren't being a decent regulatory body on this one, given they have not reflected on why they are in this position, nor are they being fair with applying their rules. (The same comment can be made…

> The EU would have a lot more sympathy for this if there were any non trivial digital markets that originated in the EU

Why should that be a prerequisite?

The EU is sovereign. They are free to do whatever they want with their law. Let's not forget we are talking about the second consumer market in the world. There will be a lot more space for homegrown solutions or companies ready to comply if the foreign companies currently profiting decide to leave.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#189

Post by fidotron » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:17 PM UTC

mdhb wrote: post #186

fidotron wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU would have a lot more sympathy for this if there were any non trivial digital markets that originated in the EU, with the closest being Spotify, which they somehow claim is not a gatekeeper in the music industry. They aren't being a decent regulatory body on this one, given they have not reflected on why they are in this position, nor are they being fair with applying their rules. (The same comment can be made…

This is a HUGELY popular position the EU is taking WTF are you taking about?

It's admittedly popular with a certain demographic of would be app developers that either think the fees are what is stopping them being successful (they're not, although admittedly they are anachronistically high at this point) or they want to scam people.

There's no evidence that it is popular beyond that, especially among people that choose to use iOS.

Re: Apple and Meta fined millions for breaching EU law

#190

Post by mpweiher » Wed, Apr 23, 2025, 1:18 PM UTC

irusensei wrote: post #54

ENGNR wrote: post #6

Would looove to distribute an app without it having to be in the App Store, and not paying the App Store fee (direct download of signed binary). Happy to pay a yearly fee or fee per update to cover code review if it’s crucial. But 30% of revenue for doing bugger all… cmon, they’re squeezing the lemon a bit too hard.

Personally I wouldn’t install software unless it were from a really trusted person doing something extremely unique and useful that doesn’t have an alternative on the Apple Store (think UTM with JIT for iPad). Please don’t take that as a negative comment but I suspect most people source their software from conveniently centralized repos whether it be App Store, Steam or even the main package manager on a Linux distri…

Great, and you are free to do so and will continue to be free to do so.

The point is that the OP is not free to do so.