I made that statement in line with what we often see in the news from such cases where the fined company appeals it. AT&T as you say on their charges for services likely is amassed a very robust bottom line enough to dip the finances on occasions like this. They can make it up by passing that on to the customers.
I saved about 80% by switching to another carrier for pretty much the same service. Unfortunately they still leaked my personal info years after leaving them. They should be paying more for that than what they are. I guess there is no real accountability when you can just get fined and make the customers pay for it.
YT channel How Money Works has a video about it. I believe it is called: How Fines Became The Cost of Doing Business"
