Gigabyte tax: passed by a single vote, it sparks an internet revolt

A vote with 35 MPs present, and the whole of the French internet is up in arms. Since Friday 30 October, the "gigabyte tax", slipped into the 2027 finance bill, has become the number one target of internet users, telecoms operators and even some of those who voted for it.

5.5 cents per gigabyte

Amendment I-1358, tabled by Socialist MP Laurent Lhardit, was adopted at first reading by 11 votes to 10, despite unfavourable opinions from the general rapporteur Philippe Juvin and the government, 01net reports. The principle: every gigabyte sent to a French subscriber would cost the company sending it €0.055. Internet service providers — Orange, Free, Bouygues Telecom, SFR — would measure the volumes, under the supervision of Arcep, the telecoms regulator.

In the firing line: Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai, which between them account for half of all traffic. In the chamber, Laurent Lhardit put the expected revenue at €10 billion a year. The tax would be capped at 15% of turnover generated in France or 2% of global turnover.

The public accounts minister, David Amiel, judged the scheme difficult to apply and estimated that half of the proceeds, or €5 billion, would fall on smaller players, notably French ones. For a household consuming 100 gigabytes of video a month, the bill would reach €5.50, which platforms could pass on to their subscribers, 01net calculates.

Niel fumes, LFI backtracks

The weekend was turbulent. On Saturday, on X, Free founder Xavier Niel called the authors of the text ignorant incompetents. Then the La France insoumise (LFI) chair of the finance committee, Éric Coquerel, disowned his own vote.

Writing on X, Éric Coquerel said MPs had been voting very quickly on a series of amendments taxing the Gafam, and that two LFI members, himself included, had pressed the wrong button on this amendment, which makes users pay instead of the platforms.

A symbolic correction: the vote is closed. But those two votes were decisive, Numerama points out, since two more abstentions would have sunk the amendment. Both outlets also note that Éric Coquerel had co-signed a comparable amendment in 2024, at a much higher rate — the equivalent of 80 cents per gigabyte.

The MP's bill, click after click

Internet users, for their part, have opted for satire. An X user has put taxe-au-giga.fr online, a game inspired by Cookie Clicker: each click on the "TAXER !" ("TAX!") button simulates a visit to Laurent Lhardit's website and adds €0.00477 to his "bill", Numerama reported on Tuesday. Its slogan describes it as a brilliant idea, tested on its author. Another internet user had already sent the MP a fictitious bill for €10,000.

What next?

The measure is far from a done deal. It must survive the vote on the first part of the budget, covering revenue, whose formal vote scheduled for Tuesday has once again been postponed. If it is rejected, the Senate will start again from the government's original text, without the tax. And even if adopted, it could be dropped from the final text if the government resorts to Article 49.3, which allows a bill to be passed without a vote.