I'd personally love a sort of anti-trust czar who can just very unbureaucratically slap large tech companies with sensitive fines.

If you had someone like that in charge and the moment companies engage in malicious compliance (for example cookie acceptance dark patterns) you go "now you pay 2% of your revenue in fines, you pull the same thing again we'll double the fine next month", how long does it take until companies play ball?

Just imagine all the corruption that would be possible!

You do realise that this position is by appointment by a council made up of members voted in by representative democracies, right?

That there are checks and balances (courts and oversight committees) that weigh in regularly on decisions made by these kinds of appointed offices, right?

Of course, that's always how it works!

To work for their salary to comply with the country they serve in and still continue to be a trillion dollar company. Yes. I don't know why people are trying to spin this as if Apple operates on thin margins.

In the very worst case, they either get fined out the ass until it's unprofitable to play these games, and/or sanctioned as a whole and lose the whole EU market, a market of 750m users. What other business gets to ignore laws and still operate in that land?

Apple want sell shiny device. Law say "don't trick customer". If apple trick customer, apple not allowed to sell no more.

Trick the customer how? By winning a sale in a competitive marketplace? The whole value proposition of Apple products is that they Just Work. PWAs reduce Apple’s ability to do exactly the things that make their devices appealing to consumers.

It was an explanation of general consumer protection laws in response to a bizarre interpretation of that type of law.

Well, if they have to allow other engines then those browsers should be able to implement PWA features and web push on iOS instead. Then user can hide the trash that is safari on iOS and never use it again. Win win.