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EU and UK open antitrust probe into Google and Meta over online ads:
Regulators in Europe and the UK have opened an antitrust probe into a deal between Google and Meta on online advertising, in the latest effort to tackle the market power of the world's biggest technology companies.
The move follows US antitrust investigators who are also probing an agreement informally known as "Jedi Blue." The search engine giant and Facebook's parent company have been accused of working together to carve up advertising profits, acting together to buttress their businesses.
The EU and UK probes represent the latest assault on Big Tech from global regulators that are also preparing to unleash new rules designed to challenge the primacy of groups such as Google, Meta, and Amazon. In response, US tech groups have launched lobbying efforts in Washington and Brussels in an effort to protect their interests.
[...] Companies found in breach of EU law stand to lose up to 10 percent of global revenues, but the legal processes could take years.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 13 2022, @04:03PM (1 child)
That is part and parcel to my complaint/suggestion. But, if fines increase by orders of magnitude, you quickly arrive at a point where even the wealthiest people in the world can't afford to pay any longer. I don't see fines exactly as a "legal punishment". Businesses are licensed by the government, and their charters proclaim that they provide some service to the community, right? Failure to provide those services, and/or corrupting those services to the detriment of society at large should be met with forfeiture of assets. They broke the social contract, they pay, just as with any other breach of contract.
Of course, the fines don't preclude criminal prosecution of the individuals responsible. Government(s) could confiscate much or all of Facebook's assets, then take Zuck and his officers to criminal court for 'crimes against humanity'.
And, no, that isn't really a long stretch. What I deem to be criminal conduct is being committed against all of humanity. Zuck regards us and our data as his property.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 13 2022, @06:11PM
Extremist views on privacy don't translate into the real world where kids hand their data to China as soon as they get their first smartphone, and everyone's personal data has been leaked 11 times over from database hacks. Nobody cares about privacy for more than 5 minutes. Oh, and the corporations write the laws.
Luckily for humanity, Facebook is killing itself by looking goofy as hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibm3WhfLk08 [youtube.com]