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The UK could arbitrarily block Facebooks IPs, I guess. I imagine this would end up like the carriage fee battles between networks and cable operators, with Facebook and the UK running ad campaigns about who is in the right here. I think UK citizens would bed more annoyed at the government than at FB.



More likely is that they would ban British companies (or companies operating in Britain) from publishing ads on Facebook and doing business with them (including local data center operators and ISPs, Google and Apple as app store operators).

It's all about economic power. The UK has to think about potential retaliation by the US.

In the end,Trade wars are often bad for everyone. Usually it's beneficial to find a compromise if possible.


You don't have economic power when you're breaking the law. (Generally)


I don’t follow this. All kinds of economic power exists outside of legal boundaries, on large and small scales. Everything from street prices for drugs to bribery demands at government levels.

Even laws designed curb market abuse through fines can be considered a cost of doing business rather than a disincentive, making it an economic tool for the perpetrators.


I refer to this specific situation.


Maybe they could just ban Giphy while it's still Meta-owned?


Reminds me of the history of Pirate Radio in the UK


> UK could arbitrarily block Facebooks IPs, I guess

If Facebook defied a British order like that, the U.K. could enforce quite a lot through American courts.




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