[hirako2000]

The cost increases, but given the revenue Google generates how is that not just a tax?

I've never received a dollar from the EU as a victim. If the fines are moderate and big co keeps paying that's steady revenue for the EU institutions.

[ben_w]

You appear to be arguing with the assumption that "get the operators to comply" is false.

These companies do, in fact, change behaviour in response to such actions; they may hire lawyers to find and exploit as many loopholes as they can, but they do ultimately comply. Even X ultimately complied in response to Brazil, and the EU is a much more important market for Google than Brazil ever was for X.

(Why would you expect to get dollars from an EU settlement?)

[oblio]

> I've never received a dollar from the EU as a victim.

There's this standard assumption that HN users are well educated.

Budgets don't work like that. It's not like the US federal government collects taxes and then deposits bags of gold coins on people's doorsteps.

Taxes, fines, etc are all collected and then they mostly go to a general, undifferentiated budget which is then divided by the various ministries (departments, whatever).

So yes, if you're a EU citizen you did get the money back. As roads, hospitals, research funding, etc.

[ivan_gammel]

It‘s nice to have such revenue to fund EU programs on digital sovereignty. European institutions give plenty of money to startups. You need an entry to the program, but when you are in, it can account for 50-70% or more in your early stage funding. And that‘s nice, because you keep more equity.

[mosura]

> You need an entry to the program, but when you are in, it can account for 50-70% or more in your early stage funding.

It is almost entirely unsurprising that the EU tech industry is such a disaster area when people say things like this as if they are a good thing.

[brazukadev]

I find it more interesting that US Americans think letting their companies do whatever they want everywhere (as they currently do) is the better "strategy".

[mosura]

“Everyone opposed to EU policy is a US American” fallacy in play.

As is the “letting their companies do whatever they want everywhere (as they currently do) is the better "strategy"” when this wasn’t said or even implied anywhere.

It is amazing how HN has descended into arguing against people making points by saying they are someone else and saying something completely different.

[sam_lowry_]

Looking at the ivan_gammel's startups now and chuckling.

[mosura]

Looking at the state of the EU tech industry and chuckling.

The point of the EU subsidies is, surely, not to enrich a few people with the right connections but to stimulate a productive ecosystem that supports well paid skilled employment, right? Right?

[ivan_gammel]

You don‘t need the right connections. You can be an outsider and spend 10% of the grant to hire a guy who will help you with paperwork and refining the idea to fit in support initiative. Basically, you look around what grants are there, find the ones you like and can align to, find a consultancy and get your 200k-1M€. Just make sure you can show something in the end, as promised.

Honestly, I don’t know what are you talking about. Tech industry in Europe is far from being dead. Not least because for many American companies Europe as market is dead.

[sam_lowry_]

Dude, sorry for being rude, it's out of desperation, really.

I worked for a unicorn once and it came with the maxxed-out Mac book and the most meaningless job ever in the industry that should not exist.

I also wrote endless FP7 and ESA proposals for a living, and that was an utter waste of everyone's brainpower and public money.

I am now working in public sector IT, and while the job can seem dull to the outsiders, I at least serve the citizens.

After a fire erupted in my block, I could proudly say to my neighbors after the fact that there were bits of my code here and there that connected the first alert with the firefighters station.

[sajithdilshan]

I don't think that's a sustainable model. Also most of those fines goes into filling the gaps in budgets related to recurring costs of maintaining the bureaucratic behemoth rather than funding research or innovation.

[close04]

The US was lucky to have Musk and DOGE fix that bureaucratic behemoth, if only the EU had the same luck.

How long have you been working inside the behemoth? Can you tell us more about the inner workings, where the money goes, how much, etc?

[stavros]

It's a tariff on noncompliance, designed to make it cheaper to comply than to not comply.

[cromka]

> I've never received a dollar from the EU as a victim.

This isn't a class action.