Since the end of 2018, several governments around the world have put forward proposals for the introduction of a digital service tax in their respective countries. As digital services change the nature of business, governments see the tax as a way to overcome the challenges that these digital businesses create for the international corporate tax system. Assembly’s Platforms and Big Tech Tracker has identified nine countries where this has happened; most of them in the EU, where the failure to reach a common approach at a supranational level has led many of them to go their own way. Countries in Asia and America are also taking action, while the international initiative, within the OECD, continues to lag behind and may be preempted by the proliferation of national regulations. While international coordination would be desirable, the trend of countries taking individual action is likely to continue given the slow pace at which supranational bodies are progressing; this will result in an inconsistent patchwork of tax regimes and rates around the world, and even within the EU.

The UK Government recently published a white paper with a broad set of proposals to tackle online harm. These include a new regulatory framework, to establish a duty of care for online companies for the first time, and the set-up of a specific regulator to enforce the new rules. While the regulation of internet companies has been coming for some time, the UK is the first country to propose such a comprehensive and detailed framework; to this end, the government appears to have listened to the concerns raised by inquiries of parliamentary committees (the DCMS Committee’s inquiry on fake news, and the Lords’ Technology Committee on internet regulation, in particular). A consultation is running until 1 July 2019, before the Government goes on to develop a final legislative proposal.