Microsoft stashes nearly half a billion in case LinkedIn data drama hits
Microsoft has warned investors about a"non-public" draft decision by Irish regulators against LinkedIn for allegedly dodgy ad data practices, explaining it had set aside some cash to pay off any potential fine.
How much? Oh, a mere $425 million. Pocket change really. The software giant said the funds were connected to a 2018 investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commission looking into whether LinkedIn's targeted advertising practices violated the the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation .[PDF], the 2016 law had been recently implemented and the watchdog was just settling into its role as EU overlord of judging data practices of the tech giants.
Microsoft denies it broke any GDPR rules and said it"intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter."The Irish watchdog oversees these cases because various tech giants set up EU shop here for the easy-breezy tax rates. That includes Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Twitter, Amazon, Etsy, Zalando, Groupon, PayPal, AirBnB, Uber, Siemens, HP, Intel, Dell, Symantec, EA, Zynga, Adobe, Dropbox, Salesforce and SAP.
The Republic of Ireland has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in Europe at 12.5 percent. There are places elsewhere in Europe with lower rates, but Ireland is the only one within the EU, which gives it crucial access to the single market. The only place in the member state coalition that charges less tax is Hungary, which pulls in just 9 percent from businesses.
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