If a firm has a policy of “we will follow the law except when we can get away with breaking it”, they may miscalculate what they can get away with and be hit with fines. Having an ethical injunction to try to follow the law in all cases, even when you think you might get away with not following it, is the safest policy.
Of course, in practice big companies do skirt the law and try to get away with it, but for that to be rational there needs to be a sufficient payoff for it. In practical terms, it doesn’t cost FB/Amazon anything to comply with cookie banner laws, nor would they get any real benefit from breaking them. So even if the risk was small, why take it?
If a firm has a policy of “we will follow the law except when we can get away with breaking it”, they may miscalculate what they can get away with and be hit with fines. Having an ethical injunction to try to follow the law in all cases, even when you think you might get away with not following it, is the safest policy.
Of course, in practice big companies do skirt the law and try to get away with it, but for that to be rational there needs to be a sufficient payoff for it. In practical terms, it doesn’t cost FB/Amazon anything to comply with cookie banner laws, nor would they get any real benefit from breaking them. So even if the risk was small, why take it?