Of course, but it would have affected sales. I had a Microsoft VP tell me to my face circa 2010 they saw themselves as “activists” and were investing in more protections for customers.
I laughed.
I laughed.
Of course, that's only technically correct. The bills they have been pushing for are terrible, they improve consumer privacy status quo in the worst way possible, by taking one step forward and building a wall that prevents any further steps.
The reason for this is mostly because they hate the idea a GDPR-esq law in the US and hope if they pass enough shitty laws in the states they can forestall federal legislation.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/tech-lobbyists-are-pus...
Interview with the author of the above piece on the topic: https://opensourcesecurity.io/2022/02/13/episode-310-hayley-...