TFA underestimates the value of user data.
From [1]:
> by the end of 2022, Meta’s [average revenue per user] worldwide was $10.86. While in US & Canada, it was $58.77; in Europe, it was $17.29; in Asia, $4.61 and in the rest of the world, it was $3.52.
$17.29 ARPU, per quarter, comes out at about 19 cents per day. Sure, revenue, not profit, but this is still way above 10c/day.
And this is only in Europe, and it doesn't account for all revenue user data can generate. Once adtech has user data, it can sell it in perpetuity on data broker markets, which is likely where the long tail revenues come from. Long after the user stops using FB, or even if they don't use FB at all (shadow profiles).
So this fine from a small country is just the cost of doing business for Meta. If every EU country did this, and the fines were incremental, then it _might_ cause Meta to rethink their strategy in the EU.
Kind of interesting that here the *country* is david while the *business* is goliath..
For clarity & comment skimmers:
TFA uses $100,000 in the subheading and beyond. Some European countries use `.` as a thousands separator, so it's not "a hundred dollars a day".
(Reference to https://gist.github.com/timvisee/fcda9bbdff88d45cc9061606b4b...)
BHD Bahraini Dinar
IQD Iraqui Dinar
JOD Jordanian Dinar
KWD Kuwaiti Dinar
LYD Libyan Dinar
OMR Omani Rial
TND Tunisian Dinar
0, 2, 3, 4 are all in use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_backoff
And if the company can't pay then the execs are on the hook, everybody with a C-level title or a board seat. I would happily wager this would get even the largest entities into compliance within days, weeks at most.
Basically the EU(or even Norway) is way to big a market for advertisements for the industry to just ignore so sooner of later adtech will fold and play nice.
36M USD per year then works out to like 10-15% of yearly revenue. Meta reports overall operating margin in the 20-30% range, so 10-15% revenue loss is significant, but not immediately deadly... which seems to match the stated intent of Norwegian authorities.
Facebook is in a similar showdown right now with the EU, appealing a 1 billion EUR fine: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/meta-fined-record-us-1-3-bil...
Their disagreement with the Canadian government is coming to a head too: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/all-news-in-canada-will-be-r...
If they choose to only operate in markets which let them operate entirely as they see fit, they may find themselves soon with no markets left to operate in.
It reminds them of the Canada govt trying to make FB pay for news. Ehh... NOPE.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/norway-wealth-fund-...
"Norway's 'oil fund' earns 131 billion euros in first half of 2023"
https://www.thelocal.no/20230816/norways-oil-fund-earns-131-...
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/norway/#eco...
This fine represents no more than a very small fraction of a percent of Norway's GDP. Let's generously assume $1B / day, then $100k per day is 4 decimal orders of magnitude less or 0.01%.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/09/twitter-f...
And I always thought fines were to disuade/ punish certain behaviours.
The idea that some crap company outranks a nation state with millions of citizens is ridiculous.
Also: even though Norway isn't part of the EU (though it is in Schengen) they could bring a case in the EU courts and have Meta's assets in Ireland seized. That would really hurt if the court allowed it.
Fuck around and find out Facebook.
Post 2001, the requirements are that that stocks traded for under $1.00 may have a minimum spread of $0.0001 and so you still can see it and have to work with it.
In 1885 he helped found and lead the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan on land traditionally inhabited by Métis people. After a series of battles that spring, the Provisional Government was defeated by Canadian troops. The country had been in existence for just 62 days. Riel was subsequently captured, convicted and hanged.
Not to disrespect Norway bros, but it's the truth.
There is probably a reason that you are not a Facebook exec, and no disrespect to you but you are clueless about how large companies interact with the law. They'll scream, they'll sue, they'll haggle and they will delay but ultimately they fold. The same has already happened to big telco's, many large IT companies, industrial giants etc, FB is no exception.
Facebook has always had the option to not operate as a business in a country, that they do is because it's profitable to do so.
And this fine will increase if Facebook dont comply, it's been done before to even bigger targets like Microsoft(back when windows/office was still relevant) so just being big wont save Facebook here.
Facebook Norway AS did, however, only have a revenue of about 6.6 million USD in 2022, with a profit of 3.6 million USD, according to https://www.proff.no/selskap/facebook-norway-as/oslo/reklame... . They have 27 employees. The revenue from Norway are however much bigger and was speculated to be 233 million USD in 2021: https://e24.no/naeringsliv/i/A3r1Mz/facebook-bokfoerte-bare-...
And seizing those DC's is childs play for a nation state, where are they going to take them?
The above all use fils instead.
100000
My personal preference would be: 100000 (monetary symbol), but, I also understand that others might prefer the symbol before the numeric (i.e. $100000), even though you would not say "Dollars one hundred thousand" in English.
100 000
100_000
Personally I would like some means of breaking up units of triplets that could be used universally. It's frustrating that there isn't a standard across the globe for such crucial means of expression. It wasn't until fairly recently that I learned that the comma wasn't the universal standard.
1 000 (Narrow nbsp)
1 000 (Regular nbsp)
(Assuming HN even allows it.)