Obviously they cater to people interested in local news in those regions. However, I hope they will rectify and allow access again for EU users at some point soon. It seems to go against the idea of a borderless internet, and I blame the companies for that, not the EU.
Or, it could mean they hadn't realised how much work it'd take to be GDPR compliant, and decided to temporarily use geographical blocking until they can be compliant.
That's why the first few audits (SOX, PCI, etc...) for a company new to them, are always such a struggle, people starting to look at the months of work needed the same week the auditors are planned to come in.
edit/PS: Did you notice how many "We changed our policy" emails you've received in the past 2 weeks, including from very large international companies like google, yahoo, etc... Companies for which not being open for business in Europe would have financially impact. Probably a good indication that they ended up with a lot more work to comply that they had anticipated, and still made it just in time. Now imagine the same situation in smaller companies running on very thin resources that cannot afford a sudden increase in staff!
They can't make money off of you because the ad networks can't operate, so all EU users are a cost.
Honestly, I don't. I don't want this precedent of government overreach to stand. I wish more international companies would stop doing business with US citizens for the same reasons.
> It seems to go against the idea of a borderless internet, and I blame the companies for that, not the EU.
You don't blame border-based rules for harming the traditional borderless approach? How illogical.
Why is it overreach?
It's literally why we invented government! I, the little guy, couldn't find giants like Facebook or Google. That's why I asked my democratically elected government to work on the problem.
Just because the government does something, that thing is bad? I don't understand your logic...
I quite like what they've done.
Because the EU is targeting companies beyond it's own borders, including companies that have no representation in the EU. Google, Apple, Facebook, etc. have the means to affect policy worldwide, making them international. Smaller companies do not.
Ma and Pa's Midwest Quilting Shop is really going to hate it, when they eventually get around to disovering they've got a problem. It sucks for a lot of people who depend on advertising, but imagine how bad it's going to be for niche sellers (quilting supplies, Americana dealers, woodworking tool sellers, etc.) It's an opportunity for someone over here to make a pile of cash, but there's no way it's not going to suck for the little guys.
Nine times out of ten it probably doesn't matter. What happens in France happens in France and that's not really our problem to worry about. This is that tenth time.
I suspect there's more than a few Europeans having a big, fat cup of haterade-flavored schadenfreude with their afternoon tea who wanted exactly this to happen.