For billion dollar US megacorporations? Yes, it better be, finally (even though this is a slap on the wrist they will pay). Look at China's rules for internet companies there. Or how friendly the US was with TikTok.
They are slaps on the wrists AND shake downs. The fines aren't to 'correct' bad behavior. Look at the EU delivery apps being found to participate in a cartel. They received a large fine but still allowed to keep what they gained and merged companies.
You know there is such a thing as law, "EU" can't just block a merger or take away their profits beyond a certain fee.
The fee is the only enforcement mechanism in the law. If you decide it is worth for you as a company to pay the fee and continue to break the law there isn't much that can be done except change the law to increase the fee.
> But there are a handful of designated platforms that aren’t paying anything in the first round as they reported a loss during the preceding financial year — including Amazon, Pinterest, Snapchat and Wikimedia.
Companies are welcome to leave if they don’t agree with the rules, same as what they tell you when you sign their terms and conditions. Isn’t that how the free market works? No one is being forced to do anything.
With great power comes great responsibility. Beyond a certain size of corporation that may just be the only way to retain a scintilla of accountability.
But some people still appear to labour under the illusion that unchecked corporate greed will bring anything other than the end of human life on this planet.