Big Tech Companies Fail to Pay EU Fines Worth Billions According to Data Regulators
Despite being hit with multi-billion-euro fines by the European Union, tech giants such as Meta and TikTok have failed to pay up, as confirmed by Ireland’s data regulator. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has yet to pay any of the €2 billion in fines issued since last September, with TikTok also owing hundreds of millions.
Amazon is also still fighting a €746 million fine from 2021, while Google is disputing fines in excess of €8 billion for abusing its market position between 2017 and 2019. Meanwhile, Apple is battling a €1.1 billion antitrust fine in France and an order to pay €13 billion in taxes to Ireland.
The issue is not limited to the big four tech companies, as X, formerly Twitter, has also failed to pay a fine in Australia imposed for failing to outline plans to eliminate content depicting child sexual abuse.
Critics argue that imposing fines does little to deter bad behavior by tech companies and are calling for more substantial action to be taken.
Margarida Silva, a researcher at Dutch NGO the Centre for Research on Multinationals, pointed out that tech companies have a history of challenging enforcement of rules against them. This sets tech firms apart from industries like finance, where there is still an incentive to pay to reassure the public and investors.
Romain Rard, a lawyer at Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris, emphasized that firms naturally seek to appeal big penalties, but noted that companies cannot simply ignore the fines and hope to get away without payment. Notably, chip firms Intel and Qualcomm both saw billion-dollar EU antitrust fines overturned or significantly reduced on appeal.
In contrast to Europe, fines in places like the United States and China often come at the end of a lengthier process and are announced as settlements. Facebook paid a record $5 billion fine to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, while e-commerce giant Alibaba immediately paid a record almost $3 billion fine to Chinese regulators in 2021.
Activists argue that these mega-rich tech companies are too wealthy for financial penalties to have a substantial impact. They also criticize the uneven application of rules, with the Irish Data Protection Commission accused of allowing companies too much leeway with their appeals processes and issuing fines that are too small.
Ireland’s deputy data protection commissioner Graham Doyle defended his office’s record, stressing that fines are only one part of the story and that corrective measures are also imposed in the majority of finalized investigations. He cited an investigation into Instagram for mishandling children’s data, with a €405 million fine currently under appeal, but the platform having already fixed the initial problem.
Amidst calls for competition regulators to take more authoritative action, including halting future takeovers and mergers and potentially breaking up tech companies, the issue of tech giants evading hefty fines remains a major concern in the ongoing battle for accountability and regulation in the industry.
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