When the Media Gets It Wrong: The EU Parliament Actually Said No to Forcing Websites to Pay Broadband Providers

On June 13, 2023, the European Parliament voted to adopt its annual competition policy report. The report includes a late-added provision appearing to endorse the idea that websites and apps should pay internet service providers for delivering the movies, websites and data that Europeans customers request. Press reports, including from Euractiv and Politico, claim that through this vote the Parliament endorsed the radical proposal by Europe’s largest telecoms to force some of the largest websites to pay fees to every European broadband provider. If true, that would have put the Parliament in opposition to Europe’s top telecom regulator BEREC and the majority of EU member states, which have rejected the proposal. However, those press reports are wrong. The Parliament voted to reject the providers’ proposal. That’s because the Parliament voted to amend the original recommendation by adding the phrase “without prejudice to net neutrality.” By making clear that any proposal can’t violate net neutrality, this language directly forecloses providers’ plans to require some of the largest online services to pay them. In future, journalists should pay close attention to the European Parliament’s clear directive not to violate net neutrality.