Google has been fined more than $4 billion in 2024, but it's meaningless because it's only an amount they could earn in 16 days.
Proton, a Swiss company that provides VPN and encrypted email services, has compiled a list of fines imposed on major technology companies, pointing out that Google's parent company Alphabet could pay the total fine of about $2.9 billion (about 436 billion yen) in just over two weeks.
Big Tech fines tracker | Proton
According to Proton, the fines imposed on Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Google in 2024 are as follows: Google had the highest fine, totaling about $2.9 billion. Apple came in second with about $2.1 billion (about 316 billion yen), Microsoft came in third with about $1.6 billion (about 240 billion yen), Meta came in fourth with about $1.4 billion (about 210 billion yen), and Amazon came in fifth with $57.5 million (about 8.65 billion yen).
However, Proton is focusing on the free cash flow (net cash flow) of each company. Free cash flow is the amount of cash a company has at its disposal, calculated by subtracting operating funds and investments from the cash flow generated by its business. Proton noted that the amount of fines imposed on each company is very small compared to the free cash flow.
In the graph below, the horizontal axis is the time series for 2024, the vertical axis is the amount of the fine, and the balloons show the amount of the fine received by each company and the time it will take to generate the cash flow for that fine. For example, Google's $263.1 million fine in March 2024 will take 1 day, 11 hours and 51 minutes to pay, while the $2.5 billion fine in October 2024 will take 14 days, 8 hours and 48 minutes to pay.
Below is a table showing the total fines imposed on Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon in 2024 and the time to pay off their fines based on the free cash flow generated by each company. Even Google, which has the highest fine of about $2.9 billion, will pay it off in about 16 days, 21 hours, and 25 minutes. In other words, the impact of huge fines on the financial situation of big tech companies is negligible, and fines do not function as a real deterrent for companies.
'If we want big tech companies to prioritize our privacy, we need to increase fines or have regulators force them to change their practices,' Proton said.
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