France is getting download tax for content providers (€0.055/GB)

A proposed amendment to France’s 2027 budget would tax digital content providers €0.055 for each gigabyte they send to users in France. Its sponsors argue that global online companies use French infrastructure and public services while shifting profits abroad, unlike businesses whose physical presence makes them easier to tax. The levy would use data volume as a proxy for activity, with internet providers measuring traffic rather than examining its contents. The proposal says this approach would protect privacy, rely on existing measurement technology, and encourage compression and more efficient delivery. It expects the largest technology and media companies to bear most of the cost; Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and cloud provider Akamai reportedly account for about half of French internet traffic. The amendment estimates roughly €10 billion in annual revenue, based on traffic figures of around 200 billion gigabytes a year.

The discussion highlights possible effects beyond the biggest companies. VLC’s nonprofit developers reportedly estimate the tax would cost them more than €1 million annually, which they cannot afford. A participant applies the proposed rate to Steam statistics showing French users downloaded 62.7 petabytes in one week, calculating a potential charge of about €3.45 million for that week, or roughly €180 million over a year if the pace continued. That estimate illustrates the possible scale for a major distributor, though it depends on the traffic figure and how the tax would apply. The central debate is whether data volume is a fair, workable way to tax digital businesses - and whether the same rule could burden nonprofits and other providers with limited resources.