French National Assembly lawmakers adopted an amendment to the 2027 budget bill on October 30. According to the voting records, the amendment was approved by a narrow margin: 11 lawmakers voted in favor, 10 against, and another 14 abstained.
Key details of the tax and its potential impact
The initiative, authored by Socialist Party lawmaker Laurent Lardit, proposes taxing companies that transmit digital content to users in France. The tax will be 0.055 euros for each gigabyte of data transmitted. For example, a company would have to pay 5.5 euros for transmitting 100 gigabytes.
According to the authors of the initiative, annual revenue from this tax could amount to about 10 billion euros. At the same time, total internet traffic in the country is estimated at roughly 200 billion gigabytes per year, with about half of that volume coming from Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai.
Who will measure traffic volume
Internet traffic volume is to be measured by providers, including Orange, Free, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. These companies will be required to pass the relevant data to the tax authorities, while the providers themselves will not pay the new tax.
