Major online platforms face a yearly fee up to 0.1% of annual net income to cover the costs of monitoring compliance with new European Union rules requiring them to do more to police their content, an EU document shows, reported Reuters.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) rules are likely to be agreed between EU countries and lawmakers later this month. Levying such a fee would be a first for the European Commission, which is the bloc’s executive body.
The move comes as the Commission seeks new sources of revenue to fire up the region’s economic growth in the wake of the pandemic and also foster a greener and more digital economy.
“The overall amount of the annual supervisory fees shall be based on the estimated costs the Commission incurs in relation to its supervisory tasks under this Regulation,” the document, which was seen by Reuters, said.
“The fee shall not exceed 0.1% of the global annual net income of the provider of very large online platforms (or very large search engine) in the preceding financial year.”
The fee should be proportionate to the size of the service as reflected by the number of its recipients in the EU, it added. The Commission defines very large online platforms subject to the DSA as those with 45 million or more monthly active users.
EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager told lawmakers and member states last month that the fee could raise between 20 million euros ($22 million) and 30 million euros annually, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The DSA is the second major legislation passed this year to target the digital economy and its most iconic companies in particular, with the Digital Markets Act, passed in late March 2022 after lengthy negotiations with member states and industry organizations. That legislation sets out a list of do’s and don’ts and gives companies designated as online gatekeepers, which control access and data on their platforms, six months to comply with the rules.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
