In the EU, policymakers have begun to consider what will happen to financial settlements with companies paying fines for regulatory violations and compliance cases.
One example is the €890 Million (US$1 Billion) fine against Google by the European Commission in July 2026 for Digital Markets Act violations which include favoring its own services in search engine rankings and restricting Google Play developers from directing users to cheaper alternative purchase options.
Another is the €1.2 billion fine by the Republic of Ireland against Meta in 2023, for the company’s failure to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And in 2025, GDPR fines approached €6 billion.
In September 2026, the Danish Rights Alliance proposed that an amount be allocated annually for targeted efforts against illegal content on the major platforms, illegal IPTV and misuse of artificial intelligence.
The Rights Alliance proposed that the funds go to three areas:
- Protection against illegal content and digital fraud on online platforms. The effort will build on the direct collaboration with, among others, Google, Meta and TikTok on the rapid and accurate removal of illegal content.
- A comprehensive national effort against illegal IPTV . The effort should both limit the spread of illegal services and shift demand towards legal services.
- The training basis of AI services and illegal use of AI. Knowledge must be collected and disseminated about how protected Danish content has been used to train AI services without consent and transparency. At the same time, efforts must be made against illegal prompting and digital imitations of people and brands, in line with the recommendations of the expert group on copyright and artificial intelligence.
Why it matters
The Danish Rights Alliance said “While EU regulations—specifically the Digital Services Act and Article 17 of the Copyright Directive—provide stronger tools on paper, translating them into effective protection requires significant and sustained resources.
While it’s a great idea, and the premise is certainly valid, the Rights Alliance’s recommendation that DKK 4 million (roughly equivalent to US$600,000) be allocated to the effort falls far short.
The question of the responsibility of the big tech giants has moved to the center of the media policy agenda, both in Denmark and in the EU. One Danish policymaker declared that “human-made journalism and language culture must continue to be the focal point of our community and democratic conversation.”
For the “tech giants,” the amount proposed amounts to less than a rounding error.
The Rights Alliance said themselves: “The volume of illegal content on online platforms is increasing, as are digital fraud that abuses known names and brands. At the same time, illegal streaming and IPTV services are becoming more professional. Artificial intelligence amplifies development because protected content can now be copied, manipulated and spread faster and to a greater extent than before. Deepfakes and other synthetic content do not only affect the rightholders. They also have to affect citizens’ confidence in the content they encounter online.”
Further reading
Input for the 2027-2030 Media Aettlement: Protecting Danish creative content in the digital age. Press release. September 24, 2026. Rettighedsalliancen (Danish Rights Alliance)
