U.S. tech giants Meta, X and LinkedIn have lodged an appeal against an unprecedented VAT claim by Italy that could influence tax policy across the 27-nation European Union, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

This is the first time that Italy has failed to reach a settlement agreement after bringing tax cases against tech companies, resulting in a fully-fledged judicial tax trial being launched.

According to the sources, this came about because the case went beyond agreeing on a settlement figure and sought to establish a broader approach focused on how social networks provide access to their services.