Since my last blog post about US websites decided to block traffic from Europe, we've done some digging. Turns out many in the US have decided that GDPR is too much of a headache to justify accepting web traffic from Europe, particular when websites do not mean to sell services or products to Europeans. Below is a list of those sites we found that have decided to "turn off" Europe for the time being.
Companies That Have Ceased Operations in Europe as a Result of GDPR
•Twitter Is Shutting Down Apps for Roku, Xbox and Android TV Devices: https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/twitter-roku-xbox-android-tv-gdpr-1202818827/
•Instapaper: https://gizmodo.com/instapaper-is-blocking-users-in-europe-until-it-figures-1826289131
•Tronc (owner of Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and other publications): https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/25/us-media-websites-down-in-europe-after-a-huge-data-law-shakeup.html
•Lee Enterprises (owner of Arizona Daily Sun and Star papers and the Times of Northwest Indiana): https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/25/us-media-websites-down-in-europe-after-a-huge-data-law-shakeup.html
•Stardust (movie and TV review app): https://www.stardust.co/gdpr-faq/ •Unroll.me: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44239126
•Payver (dashcam app): http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44239126
•Loadout (video game) – completely removed game: https://steamcommunity.com/games/208090/announcements/detail/1666772945326814406
•History and Lifetime channels: https://www.independent.ie/business/world/us-companies-block-500-million-europeans-rather-than-deal-with-gdpr-36950038.html
•Klout (social media): https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/25/tronc_chicago_tribune_la_times_gdpr_lock_out_eu_users/
•Verve (mobile marketing): https://adexchanger.com/mobile/verve-closes-european-business-thanks-to-gdpr/
•Drawbridge (cross-device identity company): https://adexchanger.com/mobile/drawbridge-exits-media-business-europe-gdpr-storms-castle/
•Brent Ozar Unlimited (how-to training firm): https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2017/12/gdpr-stopped-selling-stuff-europe/
•Seznam.cz (Czech internet company) – completely closed down: http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/11/technology/gdpr-tech-companies-losers/index.html
•PICOPS (Parity ICO Passport Service): https://paritytech.io/picops-discontinued-may-24th-2018/
Will be interested to see where this leads . . .
