French lawmakers approve per-gigabyte internet tax

What happened

France's National Assembly voted 11-10 on October 30 to approve an amendment that would tax internet traffic on a per-gigabyte basis. The measure has been added to the country's next budget, but it is not yet law and must survive further parliamentary scrutiny.

How the tax would work

The amendment, introduced by socialist lawmaker Laurent Lhardit, would require content providers to pay the government €0.55 (about $0.62) for every gigabyte of content distributed to French users. Its authors say France has roughly 154 million users and that the tax could raise around €10 billion ($11.2 billion) a year.

Rather than taxing advertising revenue, profits or subscriptions, the proposal targets the internet traffic companies generate. Its explanatory notes name Google, Meta, Netflix, Amazon and content delivery network Akamai as major potential contributors. TikTok and similar platforms could fall under the scope depending on how the rules are applied.

Measurement and limits

Internet service providers such as Orange, Free and Iliad would be required to measure data volumes and identify which companies sent them. The data would be submitted quarterly to France's tax administration under the supervision of telecoms regulator Arcep. The proposal also includes a cap of 15% of a company's French revenue or 2% of its worldwide revenue.

Objections

Opposing lawmakers argue the tax could require complicated monitoring and endanger user privacy. Government minister David Amiel questioned whether traffic could be measured and attributed to content providers without introducing burdensome requirements. Lhardit countered that costs would not simply be passed to users, pointing to free services such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.