Evidence from 2023–2025 shows a mixed picture, not the across‑the‑board, non‑resistant compliance Sacks predicted.

After the Digital Services Act (DSA) began applying to large platforms in 2023, the European Commission opened the first formal DSA infringement proceedings against X (formerly Twitter) in December 2023 over suspected failures in risk management, content moderation, transparency, and alleged “deceptive design.” This was triggered partly by X’s handling of content around the Hamas attacks and the Israel–Hamas war, indicating regulators saw continued non‑compliance rather than a platform simply doing whatever they asked. X is still under in‑depth investigation, not in clear, full compliance. (europeansting.com)

In 2024–2025, the Commission also opened multiple formal DSA proceedings against Meta (Facebook and Instagram) over deceptive ads, disinformation, election‑related monitoring tools, and protection of minors. (cyprus.representation.ec.europa.eu) By 2025 it had preliminarily found Meta and TikTok in breach of transparency obligations (including researcher data access) and found Meta in breach of obligations to provide simple mechanisms for reporting illegal content, criticizing its use of dark patterns. (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu) Meta and TikTok have publicly disputed aspects of these findings and raised concerns (e.g., TikTok citing conflicts with GDPR), rather than passively accepting all demands. (apnews.com)

Separately, Ireland’s media regulator has launched its own DSA‑based investigation into X over inadequate appeal and complaints mechanisms, again signaling that regulators view compliance as insufficient and contested. (reuters.com)

There are instances where companies arguably “folded,” such as TikTok’s rapid, “voluntary” suspension of the TikTok Lite rewards feature in the EU just days after the Commission opened a DSA investigation and threatened interim measures; that move closely tracks what EU enforcers wanted. (reuters.com) But alongside such concessions, the record is full of probes, preliminary breach findings, appeals, and public disagreement.

Overall, major platforms have partially adapted and sometimes yielded to EU pressure, but they have not uniformly or fully complied with every takedown or policy demand without resistance. The ongoing investigations and alleged breaches directly contradict the prediction that companies would simply be “craven,” “fold,” and “do whatever these EU commissioners want.”