Updated August 1, 2024
While the House takes a rest, IAB Canada is continuing to track files that are impacting the industry both near and far. Following are two files that have seen some recent activity.
Digital Service Tax (DST)
We’ve answered many questions surrounding this, including how the revenue is going to be sourced, how the federal government is going to go about it, and what this means for our industry.
You can read more about it here.
Importantly, Google will be responding by adding a 2.5% DST regulatory fee starting October 1st as a passthrough cost to ads shown to users in Canada. This will increase the cost of running ads on Google and will likely spur similar action on the part of other platforms if they decide to follow suit. You can read more about their additional fees here. IAB Canada will continue to follow any new consequences of the DST including any retaliatory activity that might result from the US which appears to be taking the brunt of the new tax.
In the past, Amazon responded much like Google when they publicly stated that they would pass on the cost of the DST in the UK to their merchant partners and third-party sellers. Apple made a similar announcement back on September 1st, 2020.
European Data Protection Board’s (EDPB) on ‘Consent or Pay’
The EDPB is taking an even stronger stance on data protection. It believes that “Consent or Pay” means users either pay a premium or let all their data be shared. The way it is now, however, is that even if you decide to share your data on an online platform you’re still protected by privacy laws and best practices.
You can read more about it in the Position Paper prepared by IAB Europe.
To learn more about the files or any other policy matters please reach out to [email protected].