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The tax would also help fund the introduction of a digital BBC
license fee to supplement the current fee and reduce the cost
for poorer households.
Without major changes to Britain's media sector a "few tech
giants and unaccountable billionaires will control huge swathes
of our public space and debate," Corbyn told the Edinburgh TV
Festival.
He appealed for bold thinking to address what he called a public
crisis of trust in media in the era of "fake news".
"A digital license fee, supplementing the existing license fee,
collected from tech giants and internet service providers, who
extract huge wealth from our shared digital space, could allow a
democratized and more plural BBC (British Broadcasting
Corporation) to compete far more effectively with the private
multinational digital giants like Netflix, Amazon, Google and
Facebook," he said.
At the moment, the BBC is funded by an annual fee, currently
150.50 pounds ($192) which everyone watching or recording live
TV programs has to pay. Last year it brought in around 3.7
billion pounds.
Corbyn said better funding for the media would help to support
public investigative journalism without the pressure of big
business interests.
His proposals come after France and Germany have pushed for U.S.
technology giants to pay more tax in the European Union.
But in July, EU lawmakers opted not to take a tough line on an
EU copyright overhaul aimed at making tech giants share revenues
with publishers, broadcasters and artists after a corporate
lobbying drive.
Corbyn has steered Britain's main opposition party to the left
and he has had a difficult relationship with its mainstream
print media, much of which leans toward the political right.
(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; editing by Stephen Addison)
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