The EU can fine them for things like this but it won’t make much difference. To provoke long term change, we need a way to block them from our countries and that’s impossible.
We can’t afford to start a real war with them because they control far too much of our technology. Yes, we could threaten to block their access to our markets but what if they don’t change their behaviour? Do we go through with it? Some of their services are critical to our daily lives and just one day without a few of them and entire systems would collapse.
EDIT: Big tech corporations like Google are more powerful than governments. While they are not invulnerable to sanctions, we may lose as much or more than they do if we take drastic action without viable alternatives.
I agree that it’s too early, but disagree that it would never be possible. If the EU can successfully move away from Microsoft like they’re trying to do now, then I think that will provide an excellent model for moving away from other tech monopolies.
The EU can fine them for things like this but it won’t make much difference. To provoke long term change, we need a way to block them from our countries and that’s impossible.
They can also enforce changes if they want access to the EU market
We can’t afford to start a real war with them because they control far too much of our technology. Yes, we could threaten to block their access to our markets but what if they don’t change their behaviour? Do we go through with it? Some of their services are critical to our daily lives and just one day without a few of them and entire systems would collapse.
EDIT: Big tech corporations like Google are more powerful than governments. While they are not invulnerable to sanctions, we may lose as much or more than they do if we take drastic action without viable alternatives.
I agree that it’s too early, but disagree that it would never be possible. If the EU can successfully move away from Microsoft like they’re trying to do now, then I think that will provide an excellent model for moving away from other tech monopolies.
Let’s start by fining them ^^
the cost of doing business