What I don't understand is, why are these local US news sites required to comply with GDPR? I wouldn't think they'd have any obligation to follow it (or any possible recourse for not doing so) unless they have business operations in the EU. Are these local news sites in fact all owned by multinationals that do have operations in the EU?
Edit: I'm getting downvoted -- just in case it helps to clarify, I'm not trying to say anything anti-GDPR here... I'm just genuinely surprised these ostensibly US-only companies feel obligated to follow it and genuinely asking why? Is there an actual legal risk to non-compliance for them? Given the already low level of effort just to detect an EU-based IP address and show the patronizing error message, it seems like they must have had some motivation to even do that much and I'm just wondering what that was.
Edit: I'm getting downvoted -- just in case it helps to clarify, I'm not trying to say anything anti-GDPR here... I'm just genuinely surprised these ostensibly US-only companies feel obligated to follow it and genuinely asking why? Is there an actual legal risk to non-compliance for them? Given the already low level of effort just to detect an EU-based IP address and show the patronizing error message, it seems like they must have had some motivation to even do that much and I'm just wondering what that was.