Apple Reportedly on EU 'Hit List' of Big Tech Companies Targeted for Regulation

For several years, Apple has consistently supported the politics that give birth to this type of legislation. Apple certainly knew/knows that the indefinable reasonable regulation/what's fair for that moment in time is in the eyes of the beholders' representatives.

These old-new policy ideas' effects on its own balance sheet is surely of little concern to Apple, and the negative effects caused to anyone else--well, they just need to be re-educated to become more public minded.

Apple should be applauding and welcoming these efforts which will advance that which it preaches.
 
itsmilo said:
This cannot not end in a mess. Every country in the EU will want their own regulations pushed through. We cannot even agree on COVID-19 rules within one country, let alone for something like this
Click to expand...
Eh? With the exception of the UK, the EU has actually agreed a pretty robust COVID framework. And its getting better. Thank god the EU is doing this. If we waited around for the US to do it (which is one country, and can't even figure out COVID, let alone breaking up big tech), we'd be waiting a hundred years
 
This is great news. But in the long run, anti-monopoly legislation can only get us so far. What the EU needs to do is nationalize big tech operations. Especially the social media operations, at least. I'm sick and tired of what ought to be public services being used to generate advertising revenue by rapacious social media firms, who then use their profit margins to attack the political speech rights of users.
 
t76turbo said:
Macrumors is an American company talking about rumors regarding another American company. If you are so against American things, why dont you leave and dont come back? No one is keeping you here. And no one is forcing you to buy an Apple product.

The second they do force you to buy one, I will support your opinion whole heartedly. Until then, Leave!
Click to expand...
lol... this is always the silliest style of ad hominem attacks. "well, if ya don't like it here, leave!" (You can imagine saying that to a slave, in the 18th century).

America is what it is only because people chose not to leave, but to stay instead and fight for what they believe.

And that fight is not over.
 
NervousFish2 said:
lol... this is always the silliest style of ad hominem attacks. "well, if ya don't like it here, leave!" (You can imagine saying that to a slave, in the 18th century).

America is what it is only because people chose not to leave, but to stay instead and fight for what they believe.

And that fight is not over.
Click to expand...

I hate that argument too. It’s usually used by people that have no argument
 
RickDEGH said:
Meanwhile in Germany if you’re not one of Edeka, Rewe, Aldi, Lidl, and to some extent Tegut or Penny, you can’t even be in the groceries business.
Click to expand...
Nice contrast. The larger players will always have a higher allocation of supply, while the smaller players have empty shelves. This is especially true lately...
 
Zarniwoop said:
It’s called politics, a circus at every level, from munincipalities to the EU. Some countries have better clowns than others, but nevertheless it is a circus.
Click to expand...

It's far deeper than simply "Politics" with the EU. They are 27 Nation States with thousands of years of cultural animosity toward each other.

I'll agree with your comment when it come to an infant nation like the US with less that 300 years of history. We simply are too naive to know any better. It's pure politics with a splattering of this and that as justifications.
 
jayducharme said:
I don't see this ever happening, but if all those big tech companies were to stop doing business with the EU because of this, the politicians would quickly change their tune.
Click to expand...

Or they could let them pass the law and then turn all information about the MPs that they have over to third parties to 'make things fair'. :)
 
squirrellydw said:
I love how the EU tells US companies what to do. I hope every one of these companies just stops doing business in the EU.
Click to expand...

that would be as laughable as your suggestion. Where would all their profits come from; since most of these companies barely pay any tax in Europe, it’s the last place they’d stop doing business. Premium pricing and no tax to pay, Europe is treasure island to these companies.
 
Last edited:
casperes1996 said:
I don't really have a comment to the rest of what you wrote so I'll focus on this line.

Yeah, I'm from Denmark so we have a very similar tax system - While of course people complain sometimes, overall people are very happy about paying their taxes and would even be willing to pay a bit more even though we're already at around the 50% mark for the higher tier of taxation. Solidarity brings us all further than we could go on our own :)
Click to expand...

Im from the U.K. and extremely envious of our Scandinavian friends; yes their tax systems can seem oppressive, but there’s a reason their education, transport & health systems are the envy of the world. Higher standards of living and folks generally happier than most.
 
casperes1996 said:
I'm in favour of a lot of regulation in many ways
Click to expand...

Massive regulation in the EU is why there is less innovation coming from European countries.... Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Samsung... they all come from places with less regulation than the EU. I lived in the EU for 12 years and left... too much red tape.
 
Juan007 said:
They don't even pretend anymore. "Hit list"? Just call these "governments" what they really are -- gangsters who want their cut.

STEVE JOBS created iPhone and Apple reaps the rewards. If the EU doesn't like that then they should encourage innovation in their own borders instead of raising taxes and going after successful people and companies.
Click to expand...

Nice to see somebody making sense every once in a while.
 
ani4ani said:
Im from the U.K. and extremely envious of our Scandinavian friends; yes their tax systems can seem oppressive, but there’s a reason their education, transport & health systems are the envy of the world. Higher standards of living and folks generally happier than most.
Click to expand...

At least you have the NHS :) - I love being Scandinavian, but the UK is one of the better places to be... Well, resident PM aside, and Brexit and Priti Patel and … You know I love the UK but I'm not sure why when I look at the political landscape at least... But hey, you have Sandi Toksvig on QI so a bit of Scandinavia has rooted in the UK :p
 
genovelle said:
I don’t agree with the demanding Spotify be allowed to be the default app. It’s kind of like forcing Sony to make Samsung the Default interface and Streaming Source on PlayStation.
Click to expand...

oh don’t get me wrong, I’m no way am I demanding that. Apple Music app on iOS needs an overhaul and they’ll get there. I’m just saying some ppl out there want it.

therein lies the whole issue with these rumored Proposals from the EU in this article they don’t see the lack of value and disruption for a company to push their brand in terms of competition. This move essentially kills it, in my opinion and it seems to match your views as well.
Cheers
 
I don't mind governments trying to reel things in a bit. However, some of that data they want to share is mine. I'd prefer they not do that.
 
Since when is this new? Every non-European company is on the EU protectionism hit list. It’s just a matter of if you fight back or not against the police state
 
Huawei, Tencent, Baidu, Sina, Tiktok, Xiaomi and so on come from a place that is incredibly more regulated than either Europe or the US, only trailing India.

If that doesn't impress you, companies like Canon, Hitachi, Subaru, Toyota and so on also come from a place where regulation is stiff.

DesertNomad said:
Massive regulation in the EU is why there is less innovation coming from European countries.... Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Samsung... they all come from places with less regulation than the EU. I lived in the EU for 12 years and left... too much red tape.
Click to expand...
 
If it wasn't for the EU, Visa and Master will still be demanding 3 - 4% of card processing fees ( just like they are in US ).

If Apple didn't act like an ass with IAP and other services, may be EU wouldn't have to step in. ( And that is US as well )

None of these happened during Steve Jobs, it was when Apple announced their target of doubling Services Revenue by 2020, they started chasing those App Store IAP revenue. This is when things got worst. What used to be exempt from IAP and 30% cut tax like Education Services, Sports Class, Wordpress, Email all started getting their IAP request.
 
squirrellydw said:
I love how the EU tells US companies what to do. I hope every one of these companies just stops doing business in the EU.
Click to expand...

Every company that wants to do business in a country has to obey laws/regulations of that country. Most European countries follow EU directives or have even more restrictive rules for business.

But what those politicians are trying in Brussels is very very questionable. When they don’t know what to do and rivalling lobbies are strong, splitting up companies is always their answer for everything. Proven almost never to be good for personnel, customers and efficiency; more expensive due to extra executive staff, more meetings, more delays, more useless office buildings. In my field I had my share of split ups and take overs. The only ones gaining were greedy interim mangers and their henchmen.
 
justperry said:
Haha..lol
Without Arm there wouldn't be Apple Silicon nor iPhones, iPads, newer routers, newer Settopboxes and so on.
Without NXP there wouldn't be NFC.
Without ASML Moores law would have stopped.
There wouldn't be Cassette players/CD/DVD without philips
Plenty of examples more....
Click to expand...
LoL. Apple was one of the founders of ARM!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top