France’s National Assembly approved an amendment on Friday by 11 votes to 10 that would impose a tax of 5.5 euro cents for each gigabyte delivered to French internet users by content providers such as Netflix, Google and Meta. The vote has already prompted criticism and uncertainty over the measure’s future.
Éric Coquerel, the LFI president of the finance committee, said on X that his support resulted from a voting mistake. He explained that amendments concerning large technology companies had been voted on in rapid succession and that two LFI lawmakers had pressed the wrong button on a measure that, in his view, makes users pay rather than the platforms.
Coquerel said he had requested that his vote be corrected. The two votes were decisive: with two additional abstentions, the amendment would have been defeated by 9 votes to 10. The voting record shows that the other four LFI lawmakers present abstained, while Coquerel and Rhône MP Abdelkader Lahmar voted in favour.
A community note added to Coquerel’s post questioned that explanation, pointing out that he had co-signed a similar amendment during discussions on the 2025 budget. Submitted in October 2024 by LFI lawmaker Marianne Maximi, that proposal sought to tax data passing through internet service providers at 100 euros per terabit. It was withdrawn without debate.
The earlier proposal was equivalent to 80 euro cents per gigabyte, almost 15 times the rate approved on Friday. That precedent does not establish that Coquerel deliberately supported the latest amendment, but it provides context for his position on the issue.
The deputies are due to vote on the budget’s entire revenue section on Tuesday, 3 November. If the amendment is rejected, the government’s original bill will proceed to the Senate without the adopted amendments, which is the outcome Coquerel expects. If it survives, the tax would still have to pass the Senate, where the Republicans hold a majority, and the government could remove it by invoking Article 49.3.
The measure has also drawn criticism from industry figures. Free founder Xavier Niel called the lawmakers who supported it “ignorant and incompetent” on X. According to the figures cited in the report, the tax would represent €11.55 for a 210 GB GTA 6 download and nearly 40 cents for one hour of Netflix streaming in 4K. OVHcloud founder Octave Klaba has estimated that the levy could cost his company up to €70 million a year.
Sources: Numerama.