[cosmie]

While technically true, if the EU has no jurisdiction over you or your business, it's difficult for them to force compliance.

Another example of this is sales tax in the US. Several states have laws that tell the seller to collect and remit sales tax on any sales to residents within the state. But for sellers that have no physical presence in that state, the state has no ability to force them to actually do so (or to force them to open up their books and prove one way or the other).

[sandstrom]

For most large tech companies EU is their biggest or second biggest market. The fines are large, so it will be in their interest to comply.