Wow, that’d be a really cool name for bureaucracy if it applied here!

however, it has been hard to distinguish between the exploitation of pre-existing divisions by opponents, and the deliberate creation or strengthening of these divisions implied by “divide and rule”.

In this case, it’s “the exploitation of pre-existing divisions”. It’s not like Apple lobbied for “the European nation” to be split.

I’m pretty sure it was also for compliance with local laws.