The only problem is usually: why the hack the Alaskian company should pay. But for our global companies the situation is different: when they want to charge someone in France for services, then France has a way to collect :).
The only problem is usually: why the hack the Alaskian company should pay. But for our global companies the situation is different: when they want to charge someone in France for services, then France has a way to collect :).
Legally speaking, sure.
Morally speaking, it's not so clear. Wars have been started because the rulers subscribed too heavily to your line of reasoning. Being taxed into oblivion is generally considered a damn good reason to kick out the current government, peacefully at first but violently if necessary. While I don't think Britain and France are anywhere near a breaking point with respect to taxes it's worth remembering that a breaking point exists.
EDIT: downvoting me doesn't change the fact that those 2 don't make their money by charging you and me their users, they charge advertisers who want to show us ads and get our data. If a cost needs to be passed on, it will be passed on them.
This is more anecdotal, but my time at a logistics company has shown the opposite to be true. Every cost increase, whether it was a tariff or increased fuel surcharge, was passed on to the next company, and to the next, down to the end consumer themselves. Every increase in vendor/supplier price was reflected almost immediately in the next invoice as our CFO instructed us to maintain our profit margins. There was even a multiplicative effect as each company applied their margins onto each price increase, such that a $100 increase in fuel costs could be double or triple that by the end.
It is possible that companies with massive margins might be willing to bite the bullet, but I doubt the advertising industry is full of companies with big margins. Perhaps the tech companies at the top, but definitely not the more numerous and smaller companies. For this reason, I find it extremely unlikely that "the end user will pay nothing". The end user will pay something, but the size of that "something" is certainly debatable.