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EU Says It Will Enforce Digital Rules Irrespective of CEO and Location (reuters.com) 103

Posted by msmash from the tussle-continues dept.
The European Union is determined to enforce its full digital rule book no matter who is in charge of companies such as X, Meta, Apple and Tiktok or where they are based, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Politico. From a report: "That's why we've opened cases against TikTok, X, Apple, Meta just to name a few. We apply the rules fairly, proportionally, and without bias. We don't care where a company's from and who's running it. We care about protecting people," Politico quoted von der Leyen as saying on Sunday. The EU's Digital Markets Act has been strongly criticised by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

EU Says It Will Enforce Digital Rules Irrespective of CEO and Location More | Reply

EU Says It Will Enforce Digital Rules Irrespective of CEO and Location

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  • Well, that's sad. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Monday April 21, 2025 @03:15PM (#65321309)

    Not sad that they said it, but sad that we live in an age where that's something that *needs* to be said. Shouldn't that just be the way things are?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by whitroth ( 9367 )

      Hell, no. As Charlie Stross wrote, "author writes 'Don't Build the Torment Nexus', and the techbros are all "Hey, we're building the torment nexus!!!"

    • Not sad that they said it, but sad that we live in an age where that's something that *needs* to be said. Shouldn't that just be the way things are?

      That'd be like if the Disney World theme parks had a different set of rules they had to abide by for guests from the EU. We usually don't do anything like this, for normal citizens at least. If you patronize a business located outside of your borders, you're subject to how things are done in that country, for better or worse. The idea that the "visiting" takes place via an internet connection really shouldn't change things.

      Otherwise you get the situation, which has been pointed out many times before, whe

      • So you say a company has to abide the rule of the law, where it does business. I wonder what selling ads is in your world, presents for guests? No, well then those businesses better abide the law, no?

      • Not sure about the others, but Apple and X both take payments from EU customers and deliver services, subscriptions and products to EU customers. So it is more like if Disney World provided children’s birthday parties with clowns and magicians to local EU residences. They need to either comply with local laws, or stop taking payments and providing services to those customers.
      • I am pretty sure Eurodisney just ouside Paris has to obey french laws.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Samare ( 2779329 )

        Not sad that they said it, but sad that we live in an age where that's something that *needs* to be said. Shouldn't that just be the way things are?

        That'd be like if the Disney World theme parks had a different set of rules they had to abide by for guests from the EU.

        No, that's be like if Disney opened a theme park in the EU (where the Facebook servers are for the EU visitors) and had to abide by the EU rules. Oh wait, they already do!

        Otherwise you get the situation, which has been pointed out many times before, where (for example) some homophobic shithole country in the middle east is telling a California gay porn site that they have to shut down or face the consequences.

        No, the country would just block that website. Oh wait, they already do!

        And yes, that's what Facebook doesn't want: to get blocked in the EU. Just like TikTok doesn't want to get blocked in the US.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sloppy ( 14984 )

        If you patronize a business located outside of your borders, you're subject to how things are done in that country,

        Makes sense. But are Google/Meta/Apple/etc outside of EU?

        If Iran fines a US porn site, good luck collecting that. But these companies are weirdly acting as though they care if EU fines them, as though EU can collect. I wonder why that is.

        I'm starting to suspect that some Europeans might have iPhones, and that some other Europeans might be buying ads to show to their European customers.

      • That'd be like if the Disney World theme parks had a different set of rules they had to abide by for guests from the EU. We usually don't do anything like this, for normal citizens at least. If you patronize a business located outside of your borders, you're subject to how things are done in that country, for better or worse. The idea that the "visiting" takes place via an internet connection really shouldn't change things.

        Euro disney absolutely abides by a different set of laws than american disney does. I

    • TribbleHead made it a public issue. Usually leaders gripe about unfair treatment behind closed doors to avoid embarrassing both sides, and only make it public when progress stalls. TribbleHead does it backward.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. This is really obvious to anybody with a working mind. My take is this statement is made because the current US "leadeship" does no have any working minds in it.

    • E.U. is protecting people now, but I don't know enough about it. Are there any protections from large money e.g. Lobbyist, Large "Donations" . I just hope it has protections built in.

      • E.U. is protecting people now, but I don't know enough about it. Are there any protections from large money e.g. Lobbyist, Large "Donations" . I just hope it has protections built in.

        The E.U. doesn't appear to have legally codified bribery as part of the political process. Yet. That's one area where the U.S. is leading the world.

        • I know, that's why I was asking. In my mind, in the simplest of terms. Money has ruined our democracy through both direct donations and lobby's. Also, when the Supreme Court makes laws or reinterprets them in a way that isn't beneficial to the populous, then congress was supposed to step in but that hasn't really been working.

          • I know, that's why I was asking. In my mind, in the simplest of terms. Money has ruined our democracy through both direct donations and lobby's. Also, when the Supreme Court makes laws or reinterprets them in a way that isn't beneficial to the populous, then congress was supposed to step in but that hasn't really been working.

            Our congress is well paid to ignore profitable decisions by the courts. Citizens United was the end of the government working for the people. I mean, there were ways around doing the right thing before that, but that moment was the watershed, "Profit above all else," turning point. I'm not sure how we return to sanity with codified bribery as part of the political process in our country.

  • If a company has no presence in a market, how can they do anything about it?

    And does this apply to Russian, NKorean etc hackers?

    • AFAIK, if a company has no presence in the EU, and provides no services within the EU, then the act would not apply.

      Out of curiosity, which major company or companies did you have in mind? I can't think of any that don't operate in some manner within the EU. (It's a big market!)

      Also AFAIK, the act only applies to those within the EU. The big companies can continue to screw users and businesses outside the EU to their heart's content! Unless, of course, those counties (like the UK) have similar or equiva

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Stupid statement is stupid. Seriously. Stop whining and get some actual facts. This applies to offers to EU citizens and data of EU citizens.

  • Bullshit (Score:2, Insightful)

    by CEC-P ( 10248912 )
    "We want to police all speech in the entire world" - hmm, who does that sound like. I feel like some books have been written about that. They also have laws saying you can't say anything bad about immigrants no matter how many times they rape your kids, throw acid in your face, or stab you while saying publicly that they hate you for your skin color, religion, and money. Hmmmm, that does sound familiar.
  • EU does not get to impose its laws outside of EU. If they don't like how Internet works, feel free to leave and start your own, like Chinese did.
    • US companies do not get to impose or ignore laws outside of US. If they don’t like how internal commerce works in multiple jurisdictions, they are free to leave and restrict themselves to their domestic market. Apple and X take payments and deliver services to EU customers. They need to comply with local taxation and regulation, or leave the market and forego the revenue.

    • America does it all he time.

      Try being a U.S. citizen, Having not so much as set foot in the U.S. for 20 years, earning money in any other country, and not expect to be subject to U.S. income tax.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dskoll ( 99328 )

      The EU is not trying to impose its laws outside the EU. It's imposing them within the EU.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Actually, the EU gets to impose its laws to anybody that does business with its citizens and on its territory. If you think differently, you are just dumb and uneducated.

  • Certain types of apps will end up being regionalized behind new "great firewalls", particularly those which deal with news, anything social media, allow comments, etc. Think of a European TikTok, A U.S. TikTok, a Chinese TikTok, etc., which completely different content inside each region, some subject to heavy state censorship, some lighter or more targeted and some remaining uncensored.

  • yet they still want european money,
  • Thanks to tariffs and other recent actions by the US administration, the actions taken by Europe against US companies are self-justified.
  • You don't want to follow the law? Then stop doing business in the EU.

    • The basic thing missing, is jurisdiction. (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You don't want to follow the law? Then stop doing business in the EU.

      Uh huh. Here’s another more realistic way of saying that.

      You don’t want to go insane pretending imaginary lines of jurisdiction can realistically be drawn in the air across THE global network? Then stop placating the morons who think they can.

      We all see where this logically ends. At best, the EU will advise their citizens of the risk of using “unapproved” services, systems, and networks they do not control outside the EU. Or, they can put up the Great Firewall in the EU and shut

      • That argument kind of falls apart as most of these companies bend over backwards to get access to China.

        You think what the EU is asking is rough... don't try to do business in China.

  • I guess this statement is only made because the orange moron is too dumb to know things like that.

  • The EU's Digital Markets Act has been strongly criticised by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Well, the EU is obviously doing *something* right, then.

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