Meta to charge advertisers a fee to offset Europe's digital taxes

By Foo Yun Chee

March 10 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms META.O will charge advertisers a location fee ranging from 2% to 5% to cover digital service taxes imposed by some countries, the U.S. tech giant said in a post on its website, following in the footsteps of Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google and Amazon AMZN.O.

The fee, for image or video ads delivered on Meta platforms including WhatsApp click-to-message campaigns and marketing messages together with ads, will apply from July 1 and will also cover other government-imposed levies.

"Until now, Meta has covered these additional costs. These changes are part of Meta's ongoing effort to respond to the evolving regulatory landscape and align with industry standards," the company said in the blog.

The location fees are determined by where the audience is located and not the advertisers' business location.

Meta listed six countries where the fees will apply, ranging from 2% in the United Kingdom to 3% in France, Italy and Spain and 5% in Austria and Turkey.

Digital taxes, levied as a percentage of the revenue earned by big tech companies in the individual countries, have drawn criticism from the U.S. administration, which said it discriminates against U.S. companies.

Bloomberg was the first to report about Meta's new location fees.