{
  "id": 17466451,
  "title": "French Lawmakers Back Per-Gigabyte Internet Traffic Tax",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/french-lawmakers-back-per-gigabyte-internet-traffic-tax",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-31T19:50:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Slashdot",
    "slug": "slashdot",
    "url": "https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/10/31/1857243/french-lawmakers-back-per-gigabyte-internet-traffic-tax"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The French National Assembly has voted 11-10 to approve a proposed tax on internet data usage, according to minutes released by the assembly. The amendment, introduced by socialist lawmaker Laurent Lhardit, would see companies like Google, Netflix, TikTok, and Meta pay €0.055 ($0.06) per gigabyte of content distributed to French users. With approximately 154 million users and counting, the proposal's authors estimate the tax could generate €10 billion ($11.2 billion) in annual revenue for the government. The measure, which has been added to the country's next budget, aims to tax companies that generate substantial internet traffic rather than their advertising revenue, profits, or subscriptions. Internet service providers would be responsible for measuring the data volume and submitting the information quarterly to France's tax administration. The law must pass through further parliamentary scrutiny to become official, with a vote on the budget's first section scheduled for early November.",
  "summary": "Companies like Google, Netflix, TikTok, and Meta may soon owe the French government, reports Tom's Hardware: France has approved a proposed tax that aims to tax the amount of internet data per gigabyte sent to French users in the country... According to minutes released by the National Assembly, members voted 11-10 in support of the motion on October 30 — which now means the new law has been…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Hacker News",
        "title": "French lawmakers approved a tax of €0.055 for every gigabyte of internet traffic",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/french-lawmakers-approved-a-tax-of-0-055-for-every-gigabyte-of",
        "published": "2026-10-31T11:28:46.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Tom's Hardware",
        "title": "French lawmakers approve $11.2 billion internet tax based on traffic usage, costs $0.65 per gigabyte of content accessed",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/french-lawmakers-approve-11-2-billion-internet-tax-based-on-traffic",
        "published": "2026-10-31T16:11:40.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}