French lawmakers have approved an amendment that would charge digital content providers according to the volume of data they deliver to internet users in France — €0.055 for every gigabyte transmitted. The measure cleared by a slim 11-10 vote even though the French government opposed it, according to information shared by Coin Bureau on X.

Unlike taxes levied directly on a company's revenue or profits, the proposal ties the charge to the amount of data delivered to users. Under the proposed framework, internet providers would measure the traffic originating from content companies, and those companies would then be responsible for paying the tax.

How the Proposed Data Tax Would Work

Under the amendment, each gigabyte of data sent to French internet users would carry a €0.055 fee. The volume of content delivered — rather than simply the number of users accessing a service — would drive the initial calculation of what is owed.

Internet service providers would sit at the heart of the mechanism, measuring the data traffic that originates from content companies. Those measurements would determine how much each digital content provider must pay. In effect, the measurement of network traffic becomes the foundation of the entire tax.

The outcome of the vote was tight, and it came over the government's objections. The narrow margin underscores how contested the amendment is, although the information shared by Coin Bureau does not detail the lawmakers' arguments or outline the next legislative steps. Because an adopted amendment must still complete the remainder of France's legislative process before it could take effect, the specifics of the caps and the measure's remaining path are the details that will shape its final form.

Netflix, YouTube and Game Downloads Could Be Affected

The proposal's stated scope covers a broad range of digital services. Netflix streams, YouTube videos, cloud services and game downloads are all among the types of content delivery that would fall within the measure's reach.

Because the proposed charge is calculated by data volume, large downloads and data-intensive services could generate higher charges than smaller transfers. A 100GB game download, for example, would produce €5.50 in tax at the proposed rate before any applicable caps are taken into account — the result of multiplying the €0.055 per-gigabyte fee by 100GB. For data-heavy services, exposure under such a regime would scale with usage volumes rather than with subscription prices or sales.

Those caps are not specified in the information shared by Coin Bureau, which does not explain how they would be applied to individual services. That leaves the final amount payable undetermined.

A Different Approach to Taxing Digital Content

The proposal stands apart from conventional approaches to taxing digital content delivery. Rather than deriving the charge from a company's sales or earnings — the basis of France's existing digital services tax, which has applied a 3% rate to large technology companies' French revenues since 2019 — the framework described in the amendment would use the quantity of data transmitted to French users as its basis.

That structure could bring services with very different business models into the same regime, including video streaming platforms, online video services, cloud providers and gaming companies. What would matter is the data traffic each service generates, not whether the service is primarily entertainment, storage or software distribution.

Coin Bureau's report describes the amendment's approval along with its proposed rate, scope and measurement mechanism. The vote passed 11-10 despite government opposition, and the proposed charge remains subject to the applicable caps described in the measure. As drafted, the mechanism would rest on traffic measurements taken by internet service providers, with content companies liable for payment.