Dutch Officials Warn That Big Telecom’s Plan To Tax ‘Big Tech’ Is A Dangerous Dud

For much of the last year, European telecom giants have been pushing for a tax on Big Tech company profits. They’ve tried desperately to dress it up as a reasonable adult policy proposal, but it’s effectively just the same thing we saw during the U.S. net neutrality wars: telecom monopolies demanding other people pay them an additional troll toll — for no coherent reason.

To sell captured lawmakers on the idea, telecom giants have falsely claimed that Big Tech companies get a “free ride” on the Internet (just as they did during the U.S. net neutrality wars). To fix this problem they completely made up, Big Telecom argues Big Tech should be forced to help pay for the kind of broadband infrastructure upgrades the telecoms have routinely neglected for years.

It’s a big, dumb con. But yet again, telecom lobbyists have somehow convinced regulators that this blind cash grab is somehow sensible, adult policy. Dutifully, European Commission’s industry chief Thierry Breton (himself a former telecom exec) said last September he would launch a consultation on this “fair share” payment scheme in early 2023, ahead of any proposed legislation.

Hoping to steer Breton away from the idea, The European Internet Exchange Association, a coalition of key transit companies, recently warned that trying to sock tech giants with arbitrary polls would result in a less stable internet overall, as companies try to route their traffic around ISPs looking for an extra buck.

Similarly, Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens is warning Breton that tech giants will simply offload the higher costs of internet access to consumers (something we’re already seeing in South Korea where such a proposal has already been implemented at telecom lobbyist demand):

“It will penalise the consumers,” she told Reuters in an interview, saying that consumers who pay subscription fees to telecoms providers and also subscribe to streaming and video services may see the latter fees go up with Big Tech likely to pass on the internet tax.

Regulators worldwide are increasingly looking for ways to bridge the “digital divide” and shore up subsidy funding for broadband expansion.

But they’re often not looking at the real problem. Both in the EU and North America, regulators routinely and mindlessly let telecom giants consolidate and monopolize an essential utility. Those monopolies then work tirelessly to drive up rates and crush competition. And, utilizing their lobbying power, they’ve also routinely gleaned billions in subsidies for networks they routinely half-complete.

Serious reform would involve embracing policies that challenge monopolization, and engage in meaningful subsidy reform — ensuring that the billions we give telecom giants first actually go toward meaningful network improvements. Once you’ve done that, you can focus on additional funding mechanisms if they actually make sense.

Instead, EU regulators have decided to embrace a plan that involves Big Tech giving Big Telecom billions of additional dollars for no coherent reason. All while EU providers like Telefonica pretend that erecting these new troll tolls will result in “top-notch digital infrastructure” and are “key to our future quality of life, prosperity, and competitiveness.”

If the EU successfully implements such a scheme, you can be absolutely sure the next step will be the U.S., with captured regulators like Brendan Carr (who has been beating this idiotic drum for a few years now) at the front of the parade at Comcast’s and AT&T’s behest.