[HN Gopher] Apple to Face First EU Fine Under Bloc's Digital Mar...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Apple to Face First EU Fine Under Bloc's Digital Markets Act
        
       Author : mfiguiere
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2024-11-05 21:16 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | linotype wrote:
       | The EU should just tax Apple at a higher rate. It'd be more
       | transparent that way what they're doing.
        
         | avtolik wrote:
         | Taxing monopolies at a higher rate. Not a bad idea actually.
        
           | wbl wrote:
           | What market does Apple monopolize?
        
             | ReptileMan wrote:
             | "Software that runs on iphone" market.
        
               | linotype wrote:
               | I thought they opened that up in the EU.
        
               | fhdsgbbcaA wrote:
               | In the most bad faith way possible. They are going to get
               | absolutely gutted on this.
               | 
               | They think they're above the fray, but there's a reason
               | Google and Meta are taking DMA way more seriously than
               | GDPR - it's basically a speedboat loaded with explosives
               | in regulatory terms.
               | 
               | It's designed to move fast and take out targets with
               | extreme prejudice. It is crafted to explicitly overcome
               | the barriers that prevent GDPR being enforced (eg
               | Ireland).
               | 
               | Apple is fucking around with the EU, and will very
               | shortly find out why the DMA is written the way it is.
        
               | gostsamo wrote:
               | the door is wide closed in the EU.
        
               | wbl wrote:
               | Why on earth is that a relevant market. We don't look at
               | cars as separate software from the hardware. Apples
               | competition is Android and if better apps come out on
               | Android it will win whatever small share the luxury
               | option has.
        
         | caseyy wrote:
         | A tax they wouldn't need to pay if they didn't blatantly break
         | our laws.
        
         | caekislove wrote:
         | These "You broke our arbitrary rules, therefore we fine you x%
         | of your income" schemes are just a roundabout way for the EU to
         | put an income tax on foreign corporations. It's going to blow
         | up in their faces when companies start deciding that access to
         | a shrinking European market just isn't worth the cost and
         | hassle.
        
           | surgical_fire wrote:
           | Ooh please let this be true.
           | 
           | When Apple stops selling their shitty hardware here, can they
           | take home Google and Facebook too?
        
           | colechristensen wrote:
           | They're not arbitrary. If they were overly precise, a
           | trillion dollar company would find every loophole for years
           | and years.
           | 
           | There are 450 million people in the EU, nobody thinks Apple
           | is just going to casually walk away.
        
         | surgical_fire wrote:
         | Apple should just follow the regulations. It would be more
         | transparent than breaking the law and being fined for it.
        
           | threeseed wrote:
           | Can you please point out specifically which regulation Apple
           | is infringing.
           | 
           | Because DMA was designed not to be explicit so relies on
           | interpretation.
        
             | chgs wrote:
             | Laws are not designed to be explicit, they aren't code.
        
             | thfuran wrote:
             | That is hardly unique to DMA. Law is rife with things
             | requiring interpretation. See, for example, the reasonable
             | person standard:
             | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_person
        
             | surgical_fire wrote:
             | Are you telling me that a trillion dollar company cannot
             | hire proper lawyers to make sure they comply with the laws?
             | 
             | You may think you are defending Apple, but in truth you are
             | just saying they are horribly incompetent. If that is the
             | case, they deserve to keep being fined.
        
               | crazygringo wrote:
               | They literally did hire the proper lawyers. Lots of them.
               | 
               | The problem is the DMA is written to require lots of
               | interpretation, so the many expensive lawyers give
               | advice, Apple takes the advice, and the EU interprets
               | whatever it wants and fines Apple anyways.
               | 
               | And of course there are plenty of other laws that require
               | interpretation of well, but they have decades or centures
               | of precedent. While for something so completely brand-new
               | like the DMA, in the end it's anyone's guess what the EU
               | will levy fines for and what it won't.
        
         | drexlspivey wrote:
         | The EU is not a country and it doesnt set tax rates
        
       | gary_0 wrote:
       | https://archive.is/slqAq
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-11-05 23:00 UTC)