France's Weird Per-Gigabyte Data Tax Could Cost VLC over €1M a Year

France’s National Assembly has backed a proposed tax in its 2027 finance bill that would charge “producers of digital data” €0.055 for each gigabyte delivered to subscribers of French internet providers. Providers would measure traffic, with oversight from telecom regulator Arcep and tax authority DGFiP; the tax would count data volume, not its content or destination. The amendment estimates 200 billion gigabytes of annual traffic and €10 billion in revenue, with major contributors including Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai. The money would go to the state budget, rather than directly to telecom operators maintaining networks. The measure is framed as improving tax fairness and encouraging data compression.

Because the wording applies broadly, it could also burden organizations outside Big Tech. VideoLAN, the nonprofit behind VLC, says its bill could exceed €1 million annually before limits are applied; cloud provider OVHcloud estimates exposure of about €70 million. The amendment caps tax at 15% of French revenue or 2% of worldwide revenue, but does not clarify which limit applies when they differ, and offers no explicit exemption for nonprofits or free software. Its sponsor says the cap would protect VideoLAN, while VideoLAN argues that free services such as Facebook still generate advertising revenue. The measure’s critics warn that companies could pass costs to consumers through higher prices or advertising, while nonprofits with no paid product may have little scope to absorb or recover the charge.