TECHNOLOGY

Are We Being Gaslit About EU Fines?

Sounds fishy to me

Damn near set my hair on fire! Photo by and of author.

According to a number of podcasts and articles I’ve consumed recently, the EU is expected to be gentle with fining Apple and Meta this time around, but not so much so with Google. According to these sources, the EU doesn’t want to provoke Trump.

I don’t get this impression at all when I read European news sources. If the EU is going to fine Google more than the other two, I don’t think that it’s because they think it will mollify Trump.

Maybe they feel Apple and Meta are more cooperative than Google. Maybe they feel Google’s transgressions are more serious. Maybe they have still other reasons that we know nothing about.

So why are people saying it’s about tariffs? I don’t know, maybe it is, but if it is, why put the hammer down on Google again? You’d think they’d be gentle with all three. Maybe this is all political spin from this side of the ocean: if the EU does go lightly on Apple and Meta, Trump can say it was due to his efforts and both companies “owe” him.

As for Google, he can say he tried, but they wouldn’t budge. Maybe he’d hint that Google hasn’t done enough for him. Meta appointed Dana White, a Trump ally, to its board of directors, and also quickly got rid of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion…