Sour Grapes Economics: Europe’s Attack on America’s Tech Companies

European leaders announced this week they will try to steal up to $800 million from Apple and Meta with bogus antitrust penalties under the EU’s Digital Marketing Act. This fine is what we call “sour grapes” economics. The socialist nations of Europe can’t compete in the tech space, and so they are penalizing Apple and Meta because of their superiority in cell phone services and social media applications.

The issue is whether Apple and Meta should be able to bundle services on their product lines and social media platforms. The answer, of course, is yes; they built it and they own it.

These harassment lawsuits are restraints on trade and direct attacks on American workers and shareholders.

The EU’s actions also run counter to Trump’s directive to his White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in which he called for the federal government to “blaze a bold path to maintain our technological supremacy” and to retain our position as the “unrivaled world leader in critical and emerging technologies.”

The EU with encouragement from the likes of Hillary Clinton is said to be enforcing their Digital Services Act- DSA against Elon Musk and Twitter by levying onerous fines and penalties for allowing free speech on his platform

IMO, this should absolutely be part of any trade negotiations with the EU, basically you fine our companies for free speech we tariff your products, we remove our troops from NATO, etc., we can’t allow back door violations of the constitution from EU countries

Here is the reasoning behind the fines https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1085

“Under the DMA, app developers distributing their apps via Apple’s App Store should be able to inform customers, free of charge, of alternative offers outside the App Store, steer them to those offers and allow them to make purchases.

The Commission found that Apple fails to comply with this obligation. Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store. Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers. The company has failed to demonstrate that these restrictions are objectively necessary and proportionate.”

“Under the DMA, gatekeepers must seek users’ consent for combining their personal data between services. Those users who do not consent must have access to a less personalised but equivalent alternative.

In November 2023, Meta introduced a binary ‘Consent or Pay’ advertising model. Under this model, EU users of Facebook and Instagram had a choice between consenting to personal data combination for personalised advertising or paying a monthly subscription for an ad-free service.

The Commission found that this model is not compliant with the DMA, as it did not give users the required specific choice to opt for a service that uses less of their personal data but is otherwise equivalent to the ‘personalised ads’ service. Meta’s model also did not allow users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data.”

The US has brought several antitrust cases against Apple, most recently in 2024. To me it sounds like the European Commission is coming from the same direction.

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