Elon Musk’s X and Google are leading a pack of tech giants expressing concerns that the cost of funding the UK’s Online Safety Act could drive businesses out of the country.
The Telegraph reports that the UK government is facing mounting pressure from tech giants to reconsider the implementation of the Online Safety Act, as companies warn that the associated fees could lead to an exodus from the British market. The act, set to take effect in the coming months, aims to introduce age checks and limit exposure to harmful content on online platforms. However, the proposed funding model has drawn criticism from major players in the industry.
Under the current plans laid out by communications regulator Ocfom, around £70 million per year will be raised to cover the costs of enforcing the new laws. The lion’s share of this bill would be borne by the five largest providers – currently believed to be Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and China’s TikTok – who would face charges equal to 0.02 percent of their global revenue.
Google has expressed concern that this approach, which takes into account worldwide revenue, “risks stifling UK growth” and could potentially drive services with low UK revenue out of the market or deter companies from launching new services in the country. Similarly, Elon Musk’s X warned that the fees “may disincentivize global providers from introducing new regulated services into the UK.”
Ride-hailing giant Uber also weighed in on the debate, stating that the fees might encourage companies to withdraw from the UK and dissuade large global businesses from launching or growing their products in the country, given that the regime would capture their worldwide revenue.
The pushback from Silicon Valley comes amidst a more aggressive approach to regulation under the presidency of Donald Trump. Tech companies are betting that trade threats from the U.S. president can pressure overseas regulators to ease crackdowns. Elon Musk, a key adviser to Trump, is believed to be a strong critic of the UK’s online safety laws, which have been touted as ushering in a “new era of internet safety.”
Reports suggest that the UK government is willing to rework portions of the act as part of a trade deal if the issue is raised by the U.S. Under the current laws, companies could face fines of up to 10 percent of their annual revenue if they fail to address harmful material on their services.
In response to the concerns raised by tech companies, an Ofcom spokesman defended the proposals, stating that they are “fair, proportionate, and aligned with the central objective of deterring services from non-compliance.” The regulator also expressed the view that the UK will continue to be an attractive and important market, while remaining mindful of the impact of the regulation on the industry.
Read more at the Telegraph here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
