Google's Alphabet hit by Europe's other GDPR: Global Domination = Profit Reduction Dusting off a $5bn European monopoly abuse fine over Google's Android business, parent company Alphabet delivered better than expected Q2 2018 earnings – lifting its shares in after-hours trading. Alphabet today reported $32.7bn in revenues in the three months to June 30, up 26 per cent compared to Q2 2017, and 23 per cent in …
Leaving aside if it is justified
Do these massive corporate fines ever actually get paid to the governments ?
And in the case of the Eu - who do they get paid to ?
Or (like Apple's in Eire) do they get appealed for decades, ignored, or 'disspeared' by some accounting trick - or paid but written off against tax ?
Companies never actually pay these little skims on their cost of doing business, costs are all pass-through, historically.
To me the issue is - when we have multinational companies passing through costs to *all* customers, how do we properly regulate them - why should the EU get all the money in this case? Or the US, or some other country in other cases? It seems no government cuts taxes or anything like that in any case, so where does the money go? Certainly not even back to its own citizens, much less the affected world.
Every government wants to regulate this internet thing, there's money and power in it. That's obvious, and there might even be some good reasons here and there. But really - how would everyone like it if some rinky-dink little country increased costs for the rest of us, unilaterally - effectively stealing from the rest?
I'd suggest the UN if it weren't such a joke....
Can we at least see the basic problem here? I'm on no side but "ours" - I don't care about either Google or the EU - I care about what comes out of all of our pockets and where it goes, and here it seems as much an argument among thieves as much as anything else...one of them gets the money, we all pay.
Like when the US fines a bank for money laundering or other malfeasance. Do the customers benefit, or do the fees just go up? Especially do bonuses go down (I can name examples...)? And even the big fines are often only a small tax on the ill-made profits - just a little cumshaw given to the government to allow it to go on. Too big to...whatever.
"why should the EU get all the money in this case? Or the US, or some other country in other cases?"
Because the US doesn't care about monopoly abuse in the same way as the EU so it doesn't prosecute. If it did they'd have to pay fines in the US as well as in the EU. If China or Oz or whatever enacted the same legislation and acted on it they'd be fined there as well.
Way to utterly miss my point.
Why should "$any_government" tax some outifit for which we ALL pay - and in turn, not share the proceeds with those who wind up footing the bill?
I carefully pointed out that this wasn't either anti-EU or anti-Google - it's a general problem of big companies and governments.
So downvote away, you are displaying your utter lack of understanding, and a bit of vanity in so doing.
So your solution is for every single country to pay legal fees and enrich lawyers worldwide, while we citizens still get nothing in return?
I'm not against trustbusting, in fact, I'm a champion of it. This is just taking a bribe right in our faces.
While I am not a 'trustbuster', your statement on why should gov't fine these entities is spot on!
Don't expect any support from lazy, Reg-Freetards. Your average commentator here never earned a honest buck in their life and has suckled off the teet of the gov't their entire life.
With Big Brother there, the typical reg-freetard would have disappeared due to natural selection long ago.
Why should "$any_government" tax some outifit for which we ALL pay - and in turn, not share the proceeds with those who wind up footing the bill?
The money goes into the general funds. In theory it would offset taxation which is how you'd get your cut. In practice it would require a pretty big fine to be above the "noise level".
In a case like this there'd be something to be said for ear-marking it to finance other OSs. Not necessarily Android forks as such but OSes such as Sailfish or non-Google app repositories.
>Way to utterly miss my point.
If only you had a point.
If you get nicked for speeding, the fine goes into general funds. It doesn't get split up between all the pedestrians you frightened, as you whizzed passed.
If a corp gets fines for monopoly offences, the fine goes into general funds, just the same.
"Companies never actually pay these little skims on their cost of doing business, costs are all pass-through, historically"
They are made to pay in the EU at least. And cry me a river that advertisers will have to pay more for Google's Spyware as a Service output.
Apparently you don't understand economics.
If a company is fined and you believe they are going to raise prices because of this... then go elsewhere. Typically though, companies don't raise their prices; stockholders end up taking the biggest hit. Some may go into not paying raises/bonuses to employees. This is why fines can be successful in ending bad behavior.
Where the money goes? ...this depends. Typically there is some sort of general fund it goes into and then those in charge figure out what to do with this. Sometimes the money here goes for good things, like new bridges or other infrastructure projects. Like in Germany, it will likely pay for a pipeline to Russia.
The USA doesn't like the government interfering in business policy. You know, this whole freedom and liberty idea. The only real exception is health and welfare of the public/customers.
When it comes to this case, most people in the USA think it's moronic, and just a way for a government to screw over a company and the company's work force. In other words, a way to make politicians rich at the expense of employee raises and benefits.
Are people in Europe so stupid they wouldn't know how to download and install another browser; or another application and not use what is already installed? Of course not. Further, Android doesn't prevent the user from doing this. Can you imagine purchasing a new phone and there is not browser at all on it? C'mon. Do you really expect them to just install a competitor application? ...or some plain label and insecure browser? Common sense needs to be used.
Not stupid customers. It's businesses that swallow Facebook & Google fake snake oil on "personalisation". It may in reality work less well than regular adverts. Then add the fact that up to half the views and clicks might be bots, and nearly half the clicks and many sites might be fraud. Google doesn't care as it increases their profit. The businesses are paying.
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