Not sure what that's supposed to mean.
> If G/FB suddenly stopped supporting EU users
But they won't because they are not stupid. Instead they'll start respecting the privacy of EU citizens, which is going to be a win for us.
> I highly think most people want the free apps with targeted ads over a full block or paywalls.
Most people aren't aware of the threat to their privacy.
Also, do you work for a company that makes its living off targeted ads?
Not that I judge you or anything, I worked on a startup in the past building a platform for serving ads on bidding exchanges (what Criteo has been doing, except they succeeded). And now I'm working on anti-ad-blocking technologies. But I'm also privacy aware, as I've seen full well what targeting can do and I don't suffer from double standards.
The people that defend ads targeting are those that work in the ads industry.
Take this with a grain of salt since I am not from China and really only know about it from HN: The EU is not nearly as powerful as the Chinese government nor do I think the general Chinese population is aware of how much better G/FB/other sites are outside of china (admittedly speculation on all accounts), nor are they in a country where they can vote to change laws (pretty sure on this one from what I have read on HN).
If G/FB suddenly stopped supporting EU users, they would most likely cry out so loud that the law would get reversed in days. This law seems to target privacy and opt-ins mostly and I as a programmer don't even give a shit about those since they give me amazing services for it. I highly think most people want the free apps with targeted ads over a full block or paywalls.