Technology giants are facing a £70 million annual bill to foot the cost of new internet safety laws in the UK.
A new levy, under consideration by regulator Ofcom, would see companies' global revenue pay for the extra costs of enforcing the Online Safety Act.
Consultation documents, cited by The Telegraph, said around 20 firms which met a revenue threshold would contribute to the cost.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Google, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) and TikTok would likely cover around 91% of the cost, according to the document.
Such costs would be covered through a 0.02% tax on “qualifying worldwide revenue”, meaning the five largest firms could pay in excess of £10 million each.
The Online Safety Act is set to be implemented in January in a bid to keep children safe on the internet, including through the use of age checks on some sites.
Further rules in March will then stretch to the likes of social networks and search engines.