The sheer number of lobbying groups each of these tech companies is involved in is amazing. Google doesn't seem to publish an EU counterpart to this that I know of, but here's how many organizations Google is backing: https://www.google.com/publicpolicy/transparency.html
GDPR was written for lawyers and lobbyists. Those who can lobby the EU’s twenty-eight data regulators will do fine. Those who can’t must reconsider their pricing and exposure to Europe.
"The bill also requires companies to offer people the same communications services whether or not they agree to have their data collected."
So consent isn't enough anymore.
And those same groups filed against LinkedIn, Apple, and Amazon too: https://www.zdnet.com/article/gdpr-attacks-first-google-face...
It sounds to me like the critics of the law were right. Instapaper pulling out before it took affect was a good move if they weren't ready. The cases were filed minutes after the law took affect.
UN, Article 12: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
EU, Article 8: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:120...
So this isn’t about preparing for gdpr... it’s about whether googles interpretation of it is correct.
The people will consent even if they don't like it so you need to remove this force factor.
Its like here in germany its prohibited that you let an employee work for more than 8hrs straight. In special cases you may extend this to 10hrs but only with good reasons. Everything above is just plain illegal, even if the employee states he did it voluntarily. The company is still liable then.