(Image credit: Photo Illustration by Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

---

• Google, Amazon, Apple, and Meta received $7.8 billion in fines in 2025
• Proton estimates it would take them only 28 days to pay off the debt
• The total value of fines actually dropped by 7% compared to 2024

---

Despite a year of high-profile regulatory crackdowns, a new analysis suggests that financial penalties are failing to dent the armor of Silicon Valley’s giants.

According todata released today by Proton, Big Tech companies (Alphabet, Apple, Meta, and Amazon) amassed $7.8 billion in fines for privacy and competition violations in 2025. Yet, they could pay off this entire debt in just 28 days.

While the $7.8 billion figure sounds astronomical to the average consumer, Proton warns that it represents a negligible fraction of these companies’ wealth, raising serious questions about whether current regulations are fit for purpose.

When measured against the "free cash flow" of these tech titans, a metric that subtracts unavoidable expenses from revenue, the Proton’s data shows that it would take just "28 days and 48 minutes to pay off the fines if they were all paid off concurrently."

For users concerned about their digital privacy, the report paints a worrying picture: despite the headlines, the cost of breaking the rules appears to be little more than a line item in a corporate budget.

The "Cost of Doing Business"

Proton, the company behind one of thebest VPN and encrypted email services, argues that the consistently high level of fines proves that financial penalties are not acting as an effective deterrent against unethical behavior.

Leading the list of offenders once again was Google (Alphabet), which racked up over $4.2 billion in penalties in 2025 alone. However, based on Alphabet’s cash flow, the report notes it can "pay off all its penalties in just about three weeks of business."

Amazon also saw a dramatic surge in regulatory action. The e-commerce giant’s penalties skyrocketed by more than 4,000%, jumping from $57 million in 2024 to $2.5 billion in 2025. Yet, despite the sticker shock, Amazon could clear its regulatory debt in roughly 86 days of free cash flow.

Romain Digneaux, Public Policy Manager at Proton, suggests that without stricter enforcement, these patterns will continue indefinitely as Big Tech treats fines just "as a cost of doing business."

"Clearly, fines are not working. If they were, after years of slapping down Big Tech with one enforcement action after another, we’d see some sort of change," he said. "Regulators must be given teeth big enough to make Big Tech feel some real pain for breaking the rules."

2025 vs The Past: Are we making progress?

When comparing this year’s data to previous years, the trajectory of enforcement is mixed. Worryingly, the total value of fines issued actually decreased by just over 7% in 2025 compared to 2024.

While some might interpret this dip as a sign of improved compliance, the report dismisses this notion, citing "numerous examples of non-compliant behavior" that continued throughout the year. For instance, Apple continued to face scrutiny for its resistance to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe, despite receiving a €500 million fine in April.

However, taking a longer view, the regulatory landscape has intensified. The total fines for 2025 were 160% higher than the total for 2022. This indicates that while regulators are becoming more aggressive over time, the fines are still failing to keep pace with the explosive financial growth of the companies they are meant to police.

As we move further into 2026, the data suggests that unless regulators shift tactics beyond monetary penalties, the cycle of violation and fine is likely to repeat, with user privacy remaining the primary casualty.

---

Follow TechRadar on Google News and* add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!*

---

Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.

Rene Millman is a seasoned technology journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, the Financial Times, Computer Weekly, and IT Pro. With over two decades of experience as a reporter and editor, he specializes in making complex topics like cybersecurity, VPNs, and enterprise software accessible and engaging.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.