U.S. tech companies are fighting back against what they feel are overly oppressive European Union regulations by withholding products from that market. Meta Platforms will not release its next Llama multimodal AI model there, along with future products. Apple last month said certain Apple Intelligence AI features will not be released in the EU. Previously, tech companies would accommodate regional laws by adapting global strategies so they could do business everywhere with the same products. Given the restrictions of the Digital Markets Act and other EU rules, Big Tech is signaling that may no longer be possible.

Meta says the EU is insufficiently clear over General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements for using customer data to train AI models. The news was reported this week by Axios, which also says Meta is taking a similar step in Brazil, where it is “suspending the availability of its generative AI tools there after a privacy dispute with regulators.”

While Apple takes exception to the DMA, effective this year, the GDPR cited by Meta was implemented in 2018, when it became “the global standard for how businesses mine and use consumer data,” in part as the result of a lawsuit over the misuse of personal information mined from Meta’s Facebook by Cambridge Analytica that was prosecuted in the EU, Axios wrote when the law was implemented.

“We will release a multimodal Llama model over the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment,” Meta revealed in a statement to Axios, which notes that another tough EU law, the first-of-its-kind AI Act, will soon take effect.

As for Apple, 9to5Mac reprinted a statement saying it won’t be rolling out three new features — Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and enhancements to SharePlay screen sharing — “due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act.” The statement was worded to leave open the possibility that the policy could change in the future.

On a related note, Bloomberg reports that the U.S. is considering ways to toughen up rules designed to prevent China from accessing advanced AI chips. “U.S. companies feel that restrictions on exports to China have unfairly punished them and are pushing for changes,” Bloomberg reports.