EU privacy and accessibility regulations face uneven enforcement

Three years after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect, the EU sees mixed results: awareness of data‑subject rights has risen and many companies have revised practices, but enforcement remains patchy. National data‑protection authorities vary in rigor, leading to “privacy on paper” where rights are recognized but rarely enforced, and large fines such as Google’s €50 million penalty in 2019 and Meta’s €1.2 billion fine in 2023 illustrate the stakes.

One year after the European Accessibility Act (EAA) entered force, most EU businesses are still lagging. An analysis of over 166,000 web pages shows EU sites have about 25 % more accessibility issues per page than U.S. sites, with professional services, public‑nonprofit, and industrial sectors trailing the most. Tech firms are an exception, matching U.S. peers due to procurement pressures. Enforcement of the EAA is beginning in fragments across member states, mirroring the early GDPR rollout.