Technology1 min read

France is getting download tax for content providers (€0.055/GB)

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The legislative amendment levies a rate of €0.055 per gigabyte on data delivered to French consumers, relying on ISP volume metrics to avoid inspecting user content. Regulators estimate the country's annual internet traffic at 200 billion gigabytes, projecting the initiative could generate approximately €10 billion. While aimed primarily at major international tech firms that dominate web traffic, the proposal has prompted severe pushback from non-profit software developers and digital gaming platforms facing catastrophic operational liabilities.

Key points

  • The proposed tax is projected to generate up to €10 billion in national revenue from dete…: The proposed tax is projected to generate up to €10 billion in national revenue from deterritorialized digital enterprises.
  • Internet service providers would monitor raw data volume quantities to calculate provider…: Internet service providers would monitor raw data volume quantities to calculate provider tax obligations without infringing on consumer privacy.
  • Gaming operator Valve could face nearly €180 million in annual fees based on typical seve…: Gaming operator Valve could face nearly €180 million in annual fees based on typical seven-day Steam download volumes.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

If i understand correctly every company that offers content for download will now need to pay for every GB downloaded by French users.

Google Translate Summary (if somebody from France translate is i will edit post)

VLC Makers say that this will cost them over 1M euros per year that they don't have because they are non profit.

According to Steam Stats in past 7 days French users downloaded 62.7PB

That is 62700000 x 0.055€ = 3,448,500€

So Valve alone will potentially need to pay France €3.5M per week and that is like €180M per year (if i did math correctly, pleace correct me if i am wrong :D).

Google Translate Summary (if somebody from France translate is i will edit post)

This amendment from the Socialist and affiliated group proposes the introduction of a tax on digital data producers. It aims to restore fairness between the taxation applied to established players in the economy and that applied to globalized players in the digital economy, who largely escape traditional tax mechanisms.

This tax is based on a non-relocatable tax base:…

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