Netflix, Google, and Facebook should pay a “Data Toll” for the information superhighway

Companies such as Netflix, Google or Facebook will in future pay a “data toll” in the EU and thus help finance network expansion. What is already a reality on the road should now also come to the information highway.

Data toll from 2023?

This has been discussed in the EU for some time – the lobby of Internet providers such as Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefonica is also campaigning for it. Now there is a new initiative by the EU Commission so that a data toll could be levied as early as next year. That reports the Reuters news agency.

Accordingly, in a few months, a vote will be taken on whether tech giants should bear part of the costs for the European telecommunications network. In the future, the companies that “cause” a large part of the Internet traffic will be asked to pay.

“We also need to check that regulation is aligned with GAFAs (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) using, for example, the bandwidth provided by telecom operators,” EU Commissioner Thierry Breton told reporters.

GAFA is an abbreviation commonly used in France for the largest US tech companies and also includes providers such as Netflix. Breton said US tech companies’ “fair share” of funding for Europe’s telecoms and internet infrastructure will be part of a broad consultation that will also include the Metaverse – the shared virtual worlds people can access over the internet – will include.

Bullet point net neutrality

The issue of net neutrality, with which the German network operators have already had experience, is once again at stake. This means the principle that Internet service providers should provide access to all content and applications, regardless of their source. Now the GAFAs have already stated that the introduction of a toll would call “net neutrality” into question.