French MPs back traffic levy on internet companies

The amendment was supported by 11 MPs, 10 opposed it, and another 14 abstained. A similar proposal had earlier failed in the finance committee. The levy has not yet entered into force: the measure must pass the remaining stages of consideration of the 2027 French budget.

It is proposed that content and digital service providers pay the levy. Among them are Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Akamai, and gaming platforms. Charging consumers for downloaded gigabytes is not planned. French telecoms operators will be tasked with tracking traffic volumes: once a quarter, they will report to the tax service which company sent data and in what amount. There are no plans to collect the content of the transmitted data or information about the recipients. The amount of the fee is capped at 15% of a company's turnover in France or 2% of its total turnover; according to iXBT.com, whichever is greater will apply.

The authors of the amendment rely on data from the French regulator Arcep: over the year, users in the country receive about 200 billion GB of data, roughly half of which is accounted for by Google, Meta, Amazon, and Netflix. According to their estimates, the levy could generate about €10 billion a year for the budget. The amendment does not require companies to pass the costs on to customers, but nor does it prohibit them from raising prices.