all-in-one privacy solution":["O Proton Unlimited é uma solução única de privacidade"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Sem anúncios. Privacidade por padrão."],"People before profits":["Pessoas acima do lucro"],"Security through transparency":["Segurança por meio da transparência"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["As melhores ofertas de ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } do Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["O único serviço de e-mail do mundo apoiado pela comunidade"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } hora","${ hours } horas"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft }, e ${ secondsLeft } restantes"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuto","${ minutes } minutos"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } segundo","${ seconds } segundos"],"Limited time offer":["Oferta por tempo limitado"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Crie vários endereços"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Use aliases do hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Cancele a assinatura de newsletters rapidamente"],"Use your own domain name":["Use seu próprio nome de domínio"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Destaques"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Obtenha um e-mail criptografado que proteja sua privacidade"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Oferta de Black Friday do Proton Mail - Até 40% de desconto"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Obtenha até 40% de desconto nas assinaturas do Proton Mail nesta Black Friday. Confira ótimas ofertas em nossos planos de e-mail seguro com criptografia de ponta a ponta."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Oferta de Black Friday do Proton Mail - Até 40% de desconto no e-mail protegido"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } no primeiro ano"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } nos primeiros dois anos"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garantia de reembolso de 30 dias"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } nos primeiros dois anos"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Com o preço de ${ TOTAL_SUM } no primeiro ano"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Economize ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ DISCOUNT } off":["-${ DISCOUNT }"],"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Adoro ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Meu serviço favorito de e-mail"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Agradecemos ao Proton por nos manter a salvo no complicado universo da internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Você recebe pelo que paga. No caso das grandes tecnologias, você se acostuma quando não paga nada. Parei de usar o Gmail e troquei para o @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dias"],"Hours":["Horas"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["E muito mais"],"Make your inbox yours":["Deixe a caixa de entrada do seu jeito"],"Safe from trackers":["A salvo de rastreadores"],"Stay organized":["Mantenha-se organizado"],"Black Friday email deals":["Ofertas de e-mail da Black Friday"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Não confie apenas em nossa palavra"],"Our story":["Nossa história"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Transfira seus dados do Google com um clique"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, conecte até 10 dispositivos, acesse serviços de streaming do mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Compartilhe facilmente seus calendários com amigos, familiares ou colegas e visualize calendários externos."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Inclui suporte para 1 domínio de e-mail personalizado, 10 endereços de e-mail, 10 aliases do hide-my-email, compartilhamento de calendário e muito mais."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Inclui suporte para 3 domínios de e-mail personalizados, 15 endereços de e-mail, aliases ilimitados do hide-my-email, compartilhamento de calendário e muito mais."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Gerencie até 25 calendários, apps para dispositivos móveis, protegidos com criptografia de ponta a ponta, importação de calendário com 1 clique do Google e muito mais."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["No momento estamos enfrentando problemas com o serviço Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Saiba mais"]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Saiba mais"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["No momento, estamos com problemas no serviço ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["No momento, estamos com problemas em um ou mais serviços."]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugestões"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Subcategoria","Subcategorias"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Categoria","Categorias"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Não encontrou o que procura?"],"General contact":["Contato geral"],"Get help":["Obter ajuda"],"Legal contact":["Contato jurídico"],"Media contact":["Contato de mídia"],"Partnerships contact":["Contato de parcerias"],"Reading":["Leitura"]},"Support categories":{"Browse Proton product support":["Navegar pelo suporte a produtos da Proton"]},"Support category":{"There is no article in this category yet.":["Ainda não há nenhum artigo nesta categoria."]},"Support troubleshooting":{"--- Select ---":["--- Selecionar ---"],"App version":["Versão do aplicativo"],"Browser":["Navegador"],"Check if this helps":["Confira se isso ajuda"],"Choose a category for your question":["Escolha uma categoria para sua pergunta"],"Choose a product":["Selecione um produto"],"Did this solve your issue ?":["Isso resolveu seu problema?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away — please make your selections":["Assistência mais rápida está a apenas alguns cliques de distância — faça suas seleções"],"No, contact support":["Não, entrar em contato com o suporte"],"Proton account":["Conta Proton"],"Proton Bridge":["Proton Bridge"],"Proton Calendar":["Proton Calendar"],"Proton Drive":["Proton Drive"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Proton Mail":["Proton Mail"],"Proton Pass":["Proton Pass"],"Proton VPN":["Proton VPN"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Agradecemos pelo feedback"],"Troubleshooting":["Solução de problemas"],"What can we help with ?":["Como podemos ajudar você?"],"Yes":["Sim"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Consulta de pesquisa"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Pesquisar"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Estou procurando"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Para uma resolução mais rápida, informe o problema no aplicativo Bridge: Ajuda > Comunicar um problema."],"Information":["Informações"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Segurança da conta"],"Contacts":["Contatos"],"Custom email domain":["Domínio de e-mail personalizado"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Entrega de e-mail e spam"],"Encryption":["Criptografia"],"Login and password":["Início de sessão e senha"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Combinar alias e contas"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migrar para a Proton"],"Notifications":["Notificações"],"Other":["Outros"],"Plans and billing":["Planos e faturamento"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Criar conta"],"Storage":["Armazenamento"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Usuários, endereços e identidades"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Selecione um tópico"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Sediado na Suíça"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Prêmios"],"Customers":["Clientes"],"Featured":["Em destaque"],"Go to testimonial source":["Ir para a página inicial de depoimentos"],"Reviews":["Avaliações"],"Videos":["Vídeos"]},"Text":{"Find the plan that's right for you":["Encontre o plano certo para você"],"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Se precisar de ajuda, confira nossa ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["É possível que a página que você está procurando tenha sido removida ou seja um\nlink antigo."]},"Title":{"On this page":["Nesta página"],"Related articles":["Artigos relacionados"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Compartilhar ${ thisPage }"],"Thank you!":["Obrigado!"],"this page":["esta página"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Mais informações"]},"tooltip_calendar":{"Create up to 20 custom & shareable encrypted calendars. On top of that, add up to 5 calendars from friends, family, colleagues, and organizations.":["Crie até 20 calendários compartilháveis personalizados e criptografados. Além disso, é possível adicional até 5 calendários de amigos, família, colegas e organizações."]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui mais de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em mais de +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN com a mais alta velocidade, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } conexões VPN, serviços de streaming no mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."],"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, 10 VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade. Inclui mais de ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } servidores em mais de +${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } países, VPN com a mais alta velocidade, 10 conexões VPN, serviços de streaming no mundo todo, malware e bloqueador de anúncios e muito mais."]},"version_history_label":{"Version history":["Histórico de versões"]},"version_history_tooltip":{"Store up to ${ versionHistoryNumber } versions of each file for up to ${ years } years":["Armazene até ${ versionHistoryNumber } versões de cada arquivo por até ${ years } anos"]},"vpn_features_link":{"View VPN plans":["Visualizar planos de VPN"]},"vpn_features_useCase":{"Access blocked content and browse privately":["Acesse conteúdo bloqueado e navegue com privacidade"]}}},"unleashApi":"https://account.proton.me/api"};
// We need to import data (the framework context) from the server
// This Astro feature with define:vars works well but creates an inline script
// So we can't directly import the initFramework helper, we have to store the context
window.frameworkContext = frameworkContext;
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Big Tech has already made enough money in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines | Proton
Last year, Big Tech companies (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft) received about $3.04 billion in fines for breaking laws on both sides of the Atlantic. As of seven days and three hours into 2024, they had already earned enough revenue to pay it all off.
A little over a week of operations is all it would take if the companies tackled their fines one after another. If they each paid their fines simultaneously, Meta would be the last to finish after five days and 13 hours.
This shows how insignificant these fines are for companies whose revenues are often larger than countries’ GDPs. In fact, 2023 was the second straight year these five companies were fined over $3 billion, showing that they view fines as nothing more than the cost of doing business.
This also assumes these companies act in good conscience and pay their fines promptly. Unfortunately, there’s no late payment penalty for Big Tech — and they often delay for years. It’s just another instance of Big Tech using its overwhelming revenue to bend or avoid the rules that govern the rest of us. Clearly, the current remedies for antitrust and privacy breaches are not having the desired effect.
Big Tech annual revenue dwarfs total fines
We published an article in August 2023 showing that the fines Big Tech companies received by that point in the year, some $2.3 billion, were inconsequential compared to their income. We thought it would be good to revisit those figures at the end of the year. We’ve calculated the average revenue earned per hour for each company using the latest figures reported. (We explain the sources we used for calculating this table at the bottom of this article.)
We also included fines these companies received in 2023 in the months after our article was published, such as a $700 million settlement in a case against Alphabet (Google) for how it illegally blocked competition on the Google Play Store(new window) that came out in December.
The updated table below shows the 2023 fine totals for each company, along with how long it would take them to pay off those fines with their 2023 average hourly revenue.
Company
2023 total fines
Time to pay off fine
Alphabet
$941 million
1 day, 3 hours, 55 minutes
Amazon
$111.7 million
1 hour, 50 minutes
Apple
$186.4 million
4 hours, 15 minutes
Meta
$1.72 billion
5 days, 13 hours, 25 minutes
Microsoft
$84 million
3 hours, 30 minutes
Total fines
$3.04 billion
7 days, 3 hours
For Apple and Microsoft, we calculated the average revenue per hour using the annual revenue amount in their 10-K report for their 2023 fiscal year (dates are noted in the table). We then divided that amount by 365 and then divided the resulting amount by 24 to reach the hourly average.
Alphabet (Google), Amazon, and Meta (Facebook) don’t release their annual financial statements until the beginning of February, so we calculated the average revenue per hour using the revenue they reported for the first nine months of 2023 in their September 10-Q report. We then divided that amount by 273 (the number of days in a year through Sept. 30) and then divided the resulting amount by 24 to reach the hourly average.
Delay, delay, delay
Big Tech companies can further water down the potential sting of these fines by delaying payment for years(new window). They’ve done this by filing appeals, counter-suing, or simply refusing to pay. Some notable examples include:
Every company has the right to appeal, and privacy abuses and antitrust cases are notoriously complicated and often governed by laws that were written well before the internet was invented, meaning a great deal of interpretation is necessary. Still, it’s not a sign of a functioning justice system for appeals to take such a long time while people continue to suffer data abuses and unfair high prices. Those with the deepest pockets can often drag out litigation well after it’s clear they have no chance of winning, taking time and resources away from regulators’ efforts to create a level playing field in the market.
Weak fines are not a deterrent
These paltry fines aren’t helpful if you think a fine should function as a punishment for poor corporate governance or an incentive for companies to change their behavior. If a company can pay off a fine with less than a week’s revenue or avoid paying it entirely for half a decade, then it won’t cause executives to tread cautiously.
For example, despite Meta racking up nearly $2 billion in fines and Google nearly $1 billion, both Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai remain secure in their CEO posts. While other CEOs might be ousted immediately if their companies were fined billions of dollars year after year, investors and board members are willing to accept them at Big Tech companies because $1 billion represents less than 1% of these company’s total revenue. They view these fines as nothing more than the cost of doing business under the surveillance capitalism business model. And as their balance sheets show, business remains good.
This is important because the internet has become one of the most (arguably the most) important pieces of global public infrastructure the world has ever seen. It connects billions of people to their friends and family, to gainful employment, to entertainment, to essential information, and more. Despite how essential it is to the global economy and society, governments around the world have allowed Big Tech to bend the internet to their will.
Big Tech knows people want privacy. It’s why Google and Apple have launched major ad campaigns talking about how they give you control of your data. However, if you look at the features they’re producing, they continue to search for new ways to collect people’s data, from launching metaverses to following your activity in other apps, showing they aren’t taking regulators seriously.
If we want to take back control of the internet, several things must happen.
First, governments must combat Big Tech. They must impose fines that get Big Tech’s attention for breaching user privacy and locking competitors out of the market.
But fines can only be part of the solution. Regulators, armed with strong antitrust legislation, must strongly challenge mergers that create massive monopolies. They must encourage competition and empower people to choose the service that is best for them.
There are several opportunities for legislators to empower regulators to ensure fair competition and protect people’s rights in the coming year, such as with the Digital Markets, Consumer and Competition Bill in the UK that’s currently going through Parliament. Similar legislative initiatives have started in South Korea and Japan, as well.
But until governments step in, you must protect your information yourself. If you remove your personal data from Big Tech’s reach, not only are you protecting your privacy, you’re also depriving Big Tech of the ability to sell targeted ads.
The above table is not an exhaustive list of all the fines these companies received in the 2023 calendar year. We included all the substantial fines we could find in major news sources, but there might be others. Also, this table excludes several censorship fines from Russia that seem motivated by Big Tech’s refusal to remove news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Also, due to the fluctuation of foreign exchange rates, the dollar amounts might have shifted since this article was published.
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