The problem is, many people on HN are Americans and assume that the way their jurisdiction works should be an example for everyone else to follow.

Our political and legal system prefers self-regulation first, if that doesn't work then regulation will be introduced, the first offenders will get a slap on the wrist to clarify for everyone what the courts' lines on interpreting the law are, and only then the fines follow.

Yup, pretty much this

In this case the fine was annulled because the procedure wasn’t followed correctly by the public defenders.

I can assure you that if the procedure is followed the way it should be you will be fined for any kind of violation of the GDPR no matter how small you are.

I don’t know where you are getting from this “you can violate the law for free the first time”. I know HN likes to defend the EU any way it can (not because they love the EU but because they hate the US because they dared to choose a leader they don’t like), but this is absolute bs.

> I can assure you that if the procedure is followed the way it should be you will be fined for any kind of violation of the GDPR no matter how small you are.

That depends! If it is an innocent violation or the offender is a small business, no court will hand down the top end of the fines. Only if you are someone like, say, Facebook and intentionally piss off the EU, then you will be in the deeper end of the trouble.

> I know HN likes to defend the EU any way it can (not because they love the EU but because they hate the US because they dared to choose a leader they don’t like), but this is absolute bs.

European HNers tend to defend the EU not because of their current leadership, we already did this during the Biden and Obama terms. We defend Europe because we believe that a lot of what the US does (both its relevant economic players and its politicians) is utterly counterproductive, if not outright harmful.

> That depends! If it is an innocent violation or the offender is a small business, no court will hand down the top end of the fines.

So you admit you will be fined? Good we’re on the same page.

No you won't. You will be asked to fix the violation first. If it goes to court, then you're likely to be fined.

Which is moving the goalposts. Of course if you don’t get sued you don’t get fined. But there’s no “first strike is free” principle in EU law, that is bs.

That's the entire point. Our regulatory authorities don't immediately go to the courts. They will ask you to clean up shop first, unless it's obvious you're an intentional violator or your violation was based on extremely gross negligence.

Which is not what’s happened here. This went to court but the sentence was annulled because the prosecutors messed up.

We are dealing with the IAB and tracking for a looong time now. The first warning shots followed the implementation of GDPR, the behavior of the ad industry at this stage is assumed to be intentional abuse.

Hence, it's time for hard sanctions, even though procedurial issues made for this fine-less ruling now. Expect more fines to roll out if the ad industry doesn't get it now that playtime is over.