all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited to wszechstronne rozwiązanie zapewniające prywatność"],"Black Friday":["Czarny Piątek"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Brak reklam. Prywatność w standardzie."],"People before profits":["Ludzie przed zyskiem"],"Security through transparency":["Bezpieczeństwo dzięki przejrzystości"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Najlepsze oferty Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY }"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["Jedyna na świecie usługa poczty elektronicznej wspierana przez społeczność"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } godzina","${ hours } godziny","${ hours } godzin","${ hours } godziny"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Pozostało: ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } i ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuta","${ minutes } minuty","${ minutes } minut","${ minutes } minuty"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } sekunda","${ seconds } sekundy","${ seconds } sekund","${ seconds } sekundy"],"Limited time offer":["Oferta ograniczona czasowo"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Utwórz wiele adresów"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Aliasy hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Szybko anuluj subskrypcję biuletynów"],"Use your own domain name":["Korzystaj z własnej nazwy domeny"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Opinie naszych klientów"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Uzyskaj zaszyfrowaną usługę e-mail, która chroni Twoją prywatność"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Wyprzedaż Proton Mail z okazji Czarnego Piątku – uzyskaj do 40% zniżki"]},"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.":["Uzyskaj do 40% zniżki na subskrypcje Proton Mail w ten Czarny Piątek. Znajdź wspaniałe oferty naszych bezpiecznych planów usługi poczty elektronicznej w szyfrowaniu end-to-end."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Wyprzedaż Proton Mail z okazji Czarnego Piątku | Do 40% zniżki na bezpieczną pocztę elektroniczną"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwszy rok"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["* Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwsze 2 lata"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["30-dniowa gwarancja zwrotu pieniędzy"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwsze 2 lata"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Płatne ${ TOTAL_SUM } za pierwszy rok"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Oszczędzasz ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ DISCOUNT } off":["-${ DISCOUNT }"],"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["-${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Uwielbiam ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Moja ulubiona usługa e-mail"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Dziękuję Protonowi za dbanie o nasze bezpieczeństwo w skomplikowanym internetowym uniwersum."],"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":["Dostajesz to, za co płacisz. W przypadku przedsiębiorstw big tech, jeśli nie płacisz nic, zostaniesz wykorzystany. Przestałam korzystać z Gmail i przeniosłam się na @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dni"],"Hours":["Godz."],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["I wiele więcej"],"Make your inbox yours":["Spraw, aby Twoja skrzynka odbiorcza była naprawdę Twoja"],"Safe from trackers":["Bezpieczeństwo od skryptów śledzących"],"Stay organized":["Zachowaj porządek"],"Black Friday email deals":["Oferty e-mailowe na Czarny Piątek"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Nie musisz wierzyć nam na słowo"],"Our story":["Nasza historia"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Przenieś dane z Google jednym kliknięciem"]},"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.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Zawiera ponad ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } krajach z możliwością połączenia do 10 urządzeń, a także dostęp do globalnych usług streamingu, blokadę reklam, złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Łatwo udostępniaj swój kalendarz rodzinie, znajomym oraz współpracownikom i wyświetla kalendarze zewnętrzne."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Zawiera obsługę 1 niestandardowej domeny e-mail, 10 adresów e-mail, 10 aliasów hide-my-email, udostępnianie kalendarza i nie tylko."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Obejmuje obsługę 3 niestandardowych domen e-mail, 15 adresów e-mail, nielimitowane aliasy hide-my-email, udostępnianie kalendarza i nie tylko."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Zarządzanie nawet 25 kalendarzami, aplikacje mobilne, bezpieczne szyfrowanie metodą end-to-end, importowanie kalendarza za pomocą jednego kliknięcia z Google i więcej."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["W tej chwili mamy problemy z usługą Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Dowiedz się więcej"]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Dowiedz się więcej"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Uwaga: obecnie występują problemy z usługą ${ issues[0] }."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Mamy problemy z co najmniej jedną usługą."]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Sugestie"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Podkategoria","Podkategorie","Podkategorii","Podkategorii"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Kategoria","Kategorie","Kategorii","Kategorii"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Nie znaleziono szukanej frazy?"],"General contact":["Skontaktuj się, wykorzystując ogólne zapytanie"],"Get help":["Uzyskaj pomoc"],"Legal contact":["Skontaktuj się z działem prawnym"],"Media contact":["Skontaktuj się z zespołem medialnym"],"Partnerships contact":["Skontaktuj się z zespołem ds. partnerstwa"],"Reading":["Odczytywanie"]},"Support categories":{"Browse Proton product support":["Przeglądaj wsparcie dotyczące produktów Proton"]},"Support category":{"There is no article in this category yet.":["W tej kategorii jeszcze nie ma żadnego artykułu."]},"Support troubleshooting":{"--- Select ---":["--- Wybierz ---"],"App version":["Wersja aplikacji"],"Browser":["Przeglądarka"],"Check if this helps":["Sprawdź, czy to pomoże"],"Choose a category for your question":["Wybierz kategorię pytania"],"Choose a product":["Wybierz produkt"],"Did this solve your issue ?":["Czy Twój problem został rozwiązany?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away — please make your selections":["Szybsze wsparcie w zasięgu ręki – dokonaj wyboru"],"No, contact support":["Nie, skontaktuj się z pomocą techniczną"],"Proton account":["Konto 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":["Dziękujemy za podzielenie się opinią"],"Troubleshooting":["Rozwiązywanie problemów"],"What can we help with ?":["W czym możemy Ci pomóc?"],"Yes":["Tak"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Zapytanie wyszukiwania"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Szukaj"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Szukam"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["W celu szybszego rozwiązania problemu dokonaj zgłoszenia przez aplikację Bridge: Pomoc > Zgłoś problem."],"Information":["Informacje"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Bezpieczeństwo konta"],"Contacts":["Kontakty"],"Custom email domain":["Niestandardowa domena e-mail"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Dostarczanie wiadomości e-mail i spam"],"Encryption":["Szyfrowanie"],"Login and password":["Login i hasło"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Scalanie aliasów i kont"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migracja do Proton"],"Notifications":["Powiadomienia"],"Other":["Inne"],"Plans and billing":["Plany i rozliczenia"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Rejestracja"],"Storage":["Przestrzeń dyskowa"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Użytkownicy, adresy i tożsamości"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Wybierz temat"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Ulokowany w Szwajcarii"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Nagrody"],"Customers":["Klienci"],"Featured":["Wyróżnione"],"Go to testimonial source":["Przejdź do źródła referencji"],"Reviews":["Opinie"],"Videos":["Pliki wideo"]},"Text":{"Find the plan that's right for you":["Znajdź odpowiedni plan dla siebie"],"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Jeśli potrzebujesz pomocy, sprawdź naszą ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["Strona, której szukasz, mogła zostać usunięta lub link jest przestarzały."]},"Title":{"On this page":["Na tej stronie"],"Related articles":["Powiązane artykuły"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Udostępnij ${ thisPage }"],"Thank you!":["Dziękujemy!"],"this page":["tę stronę"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Więcej informacji"]},"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.":["Utwórz do 20 niestandardowych, szyfrowanych kalendarzy z możliwością ich udostępniania. Ponadto możesz dodać do 5 kalendarzy znajomych, rodziny, współpracowników i organizacji."]},"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.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Zawiera ponad ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } krajach, najwyższe prędkości VPN, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } połączeń VPN, usługi streamingu na całym świecie, blokowanie reklam oraz złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."],"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.":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanych treści i przeglądaj prywatnie Internet. Zawiera ponad ${ TOTAL_SERVERS } serwerów w ponad ${ TOTAL_COUNTRIES } krajach, najwyższe prędkości VPN, 10 połączeń VPN, usługi streamingu na całym świecie, blokowanie reklam oraz złośliwego oprogramowania i wiele więcej."]},"version_history_label":{"Version history":["Historia wersji"]},"version_history_tooltip":{"Store up to ${ versionHistoryNumber } versions of each file for up to ${ years } years":["Przechowuj do ${ versionHistoryNumber } wersji każdego pliku do ${ years } lat"]},"vpn_features_link":{"View VPN plans":["Wyświetl plany usługi VPN"]},"vpn_features_useCase":{"Access blocked content and browse privately":["Uzyskaj dostęp do zablokowanej zawartości i przeglądaj ją prywatnie"]}}},"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;
})();
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(new window), 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(new window) 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(new window) 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(new window) to following your activity in other apps(new window), 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.
Secure, seamless communication is the foundation of every business. As more
organizations secure their data with Proton, we’ve dramatically expanded our
ecosystem with new products and services, from our password manager to Dark Web
Monitoring for cr
On the subject of cybersecurity, one term that often comes up is brute force
attack. A brute force attack is any attack that doesn’t rely on finesse, but
instead uses raw computing power to crack security or even the underlying
encryption.
In this a
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has become notorious as
the legal justification allowing federal agencies like the NSA, CIA, and FBI to
perform warrantless wiretaps, which sweep up the data of hundreds of thousands
of US citi
In response to the growing number of data breaches, Proton Mail offers a feature
to paid subscribers called Dark Web Monitoring. Our system checks if your
credentials or other data have been leaked to illegal marketplaces and alerts
you if so. Often
Your email address is your online identity, and you share it whenever you create
a new account for an online service. While this offers convenience, it also
leaves your identity exposed if hackers manage to breach the services you use.
Data breaches
Our mission at Proton is to help usher in an internet that protects your privacy
by default, secures your data, and gives you the freedom of choice.
Today we’re taking another step in this direction with the launch of our open
source password manage