Meta criticized rumors in the EU and US that Big Tech companies should effectively pay taxes to finance broadband infrastructure development.
The growing sentiment in these territories is that, as their main users and beneficiaries, Big Tech companies should pay a fair share of the cost of building the network infrastructure.
In February 2023, the European Commission opened an exploratory commission (opens in a new tab) to gather opinions and ideas on the idea of commissioning the topic to tech giants, and it remains open until May. And, according to Ars Technica (opens in a new tab), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote in Newsweek (opens in a new tab) in 2021 that "big tech got a free ride on our infrastructure of the Internet and avoided the billions of dollars in costs required to maintain and build that network."
Broadband supply and demand
However, in a blog post (opens in a new tab), Kevin Salvadori, vice president of network at Meta, and Bruno Cendon Martin, director and head of RL Wireless, argued that Meta's value as a provider of content applications (CAP) should exempt you. of these charges.
"The Network Fee Proposals," they wrote, "are based on a false premise because they fail to recognize the value CAPs create for the digital ecosystem, nor the investments we make in the infrastructure that supports it."
Meta claims that over the past decade, CAPs have invested more than $880 billion in Internet infrastructure, and that it has only invested $000 billion, including "billions in Europe." Naturally, the blog post does not provide a source for its own expenses.
Meta may invest in infrastructure, but by its own admission, the company believes that the investment itself drives demand for Internet services. Maybe he's just a little selfish.
"Each year, Meta invests tens of billions of dollars in our applications and platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Quest, to facilitate the hosting of content."
“Billions of people log in every day to access this content, creating a demand that allows telecom operators to charge for Internet access. Our investment in content literally drives the revenue and business model of telecom operators. »
Tech giants have their own expenses paid to internet service providers and content delivery networks (CDNs), but that probably misses the point: whether tech companies need governments to step in and create infrastructure that they will then use extensively for their own benefit. ends, they must pay the bill.
No one, nor any government agency, should do anything out of the goodness of their hearts for a sin-rich tech company.