Many MindedFrance's Assembly backs a per-gigabyte levy on the biggest data senders
On October 30, France's National Assembly voted 11-10 to adopt an amendment that would tax the data traffic delivered to users in France. Socialist lawmaker Laurent Lhardit introduced it, and it passed into the next budget despite opposition from the government and the finance committee's rapporteur.
The levy would be 0.055 euro (about $0.06) per gigabyte, paid by the content providers. Its authors estimate about 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) a year. The tax targets heavy traffic rather than advertising revenue, profits or subscriptions. The explanatory notes name Google, Meta, Netflix, Amazon and the CDN operator Akamai as the main likely payers, and TikTok-style platforms could also be covered. Roughly 200 billion GB cross French providers each year, and about half comes from around five major companies. Providers such as Orange, Free and Iliad would have to measure volumes and identify senders, reporting quarterly to the tax administration under the telecom regulator Arcep. The levy is capped at 15% of a company's French revenue or 2% of worldwide revenue.
For connection and knowledge, the question is price. If senders pass the charge on, streaming, video and other data-heavy services get more expensive, which pushes against the aim of making access effectively free. The rapporteur argues exactly that. Lhardit disputes it. He says broadcasters such as TF1 would pay only about 200,000 to 300,000, and that free services like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok would not pass costs to users.
Watch the early-November vote on the first section of the 2027 budget, and the later stages. The measure is not law. Minister David Amiel questioned whether traffic can be measured and attributed without heavy monitoring, and opponents raised privacy concerns. The revenue figure is the authors' own estimate, and the source's currency symbols and figures are inconsistent in places.
Source: Tom's Hardware