If this is the case, I wonder why isn't Google publicly saying this. Because right now, it looks like they've stopped publishing the sources just because they felt like it, which has understandably generated a lot of backlash, but I feel like all the backlash would go away if they pointed at the EU regulations.
Why will they care what HN says about them? The people here don't like them anyway. They care what customers think, not developers.