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We must say that in the digital realm, France is ahead of all other European states, at least in ideas and sometimes in practice. Specifically, the French National Assembly has voted to tax US companies for every gigabyte of data they send to French internet users.
It is a unique measure, an amendment to the 2027 budget, which provides for a €0.055 per gigabyte tax on content providers. The promoters, (socialist‑leaning), estimate that this would generate €10 billion in revenue per year.
According to the text of the amendment, internet service providers will have to measure the data flow to their customers and record which company sent it. The totals would be reported quarterly to the tax authorities, under the supervision of the telecommunications regulator Arcep. The text forbids any recording of the data content or its destination.
The explanatory note of the amendment cites an Arcep estimate that each year 200 billion gigabytes reach French internet subscribers. It also states that Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai account for roughly half of that traffic.
According to the official minutes of the session, the new measure was approved on Friday with 11 votes in favour, 10 against and 14 abstentions. The government and the finance committee opposed it. The vote is only a first step. The tax must pass the entire budget process to become law.
Some data travel through content delivery networks (CDNs), which store copies near users. Such data would be counted at the moment they leave the network. The text sets the maximum tax limit at 15% of a company’s French turnover or 2% of its global turnover.
Public accounts minister David Amiel told parliament that the system would require sensors on networks or measurements on users’ devices. Half of the tax would fall on smaller content providers, many of them French, he said. According to the authors’ estimates, this amounts to roughly €5 billion. Philippe Juvin, general rapporteur of the finance committee, warned that large platforms could pass the cost onto advertisers.
VideoLAN, the French non‑profit that created the VLC media player, said the tax would cost it more than €1 million per year. VLC has surpassed 6 billion downloads.
According to Martin Clavey for Next, it is unlikely that the Senate, where the conservative Les Républicains hold the majority, will back the proposal. The government could also force the budget’s approval without a final vote. In that case, it could omit the amendment from the text, Next observed.
In June, President Trump threatened 100% tariffs on digital services taxes. Amiel told parliamentarians that France already has tools to tax large tech firms, such as the digital services tax. He also referred to the EU antitrust sanctions, which France says should reduce European contributions.
