EU drops plan to levy oversight fees on big tech

The European Commission will not ask major tech firms to cover the cost of enforcing the Digital Markets Act, despite calls from Germany and some EU lawmakers.

Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said there are no current plans to introduce a supervisory fee, although the rules remain under review.

The law, in effect since 2023, aims to reduce the power of large online platforms and increase consumer choice. It applies to Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft, and Booking.com, which the EU considers core platform providers.

Supporters of a fee had pushed for something similar to the one under the Digital Services Act. That regulation requires large online platforms to take stronger action on harmful content and includes a supervisory fee equal to 0.05% of a company’s annual global net income.

Virkkunen said the Commission is monitoring the situation but is not working on any new proposals to charge the companies at this time.