A Deutsche Telekom Shakedown: Will Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp slow to a crawl in Germany as DT tries to get paid twice, and will German regulators have the courage to stop DT’s bullying?

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2024-09-25 16:30:06

We are about to see whether the largest and most powerful telecom in Europe, Deutsche Telekom (DT), can force websites and apps to pay so-called “network fees” when they deliver the movies, sites, and data DT customers request.[1]

That showdown starts today, when Meta starts moving to a different way of delivering WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to DT’s internet customers. Instead of continuing to pay extortionary network fees for a direct connection to DT’s network, Meta will be using a third-party transit provider to connect to DT.

While that might not sound like news, it will be if Deutsche Telekom does what it usually does to online services and networks that refuse to pay DT’s toll – slow down these services by intentionally keeping the “doors” into its network too small.

If DT does this, then millions of DT internet subscribers could have WhatsApp messages that won’t load, Instagram stories that stutter, and Facebook updates that don’t update.