[crowcroft]

When some countries tell them 'You need to make sure the product is safe for children', or 'you can't let people under 16 on the platform' Meta stomps their feet, says it's impossible and/or bad for society and spends millions on campaigns to influence the public against the govt's position. In some cases going as far as threatening to leave the country.

So yes, they absolutely have a choice.

[Pay08]

Lobbying only works in a democracy, and the UAE is too rich to simply bribe.

[thrance]

Corruption works the same everywhere. Only in democracies do we feel the need to call it "lobbying" to feel better about it.