Overview

• Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer has drafted legislation to impose a 10% levy on revenue generated by large digital platforms using German media content.
• Berlin plans to host executives from Google, Meta and other U.S. tech firms to explore voluntary contributions before enacting the statutory tax.
• The levy reflects a coalition agreement reached earlier this year and follows similar digital service taxes in Britain, France and Austria.
• Chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to end generous tax treatment of American platforms and will raise the issue during his upcoming meeting with President Trump.
• Washington previously launched Section 301 investigations into countries taxing U.S. technology companies, creating the potential for retaliatory tariffs on German exports.