Presumably for the same reason that the telephone network, or railroad lines are subject to certain laws, and cannot do whatever they want.
Or any other situation where a company has a large amount of anti competitive market power.
> There are options
If Apple doesn't like democracy, it has other options. They can feel free to leave the EU market and they won't be subject to any of that pesky democracy and popular laws.
> incredibly small percentage
It seems as if there is actually a very large percentage that supports these laws in the EU.
Railroads and telephone wires are the necessary physical network required for railways and telephones.
Apple is a private company, and if they decided to keep their stock to themselves there still would be plenty of computers and cell phones
I disagree. In general a company should have the right to create a closed system sure. But if said company is this huge and essentially shapes a large part of digital society then the representatives of the people (it's governments) should take action to shape it in the interest of their populations. Now if that's what's happening I cannot say. Perhaps it is more like you describe it:
> All I see is lazy, half baked ideas and petty bureaucracy.
There are options for the incredibly small percentage of folks who want completely open systems. So what exactly is the problem they’re trying to address?
Like the never ending bombardment of cookie pop-ups plastered over top of everything, the EU seems intent to continually etch their mark on everyone’s lives. All I see is lazy, half baked ideas and petty bureaucracy.