{
  "id": 17792943,
  "title": "An internet tax that would charge by the gigabyte just squeaked through France's lower house",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/an-internet-tax-that-would-charge-by-the-gigabyte-just-squeaked",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-11-02T12:03:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechSpot",
    "slug": "techspot",
    "url": "https://www.techspot.com/news/114406-gigabyte-internet-tax-squeaked-through-france-lower-house.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On Friday, French lawmakers narrowly approved a controversial internet tax that would charge content providers 5.5 cents per gigabyte of data sent to French users. The proposal, which has yet to pass the Senate, would generate €10 billion annually based on the assumption that 200 billion gigabytes of data flow into French homes each year. However, the measure faces skepticism from the budget minister, who doubts the feasibility of tracking data usage, and the VideoLAN nonprofit, which believes it could be forced to pay over €1 million a year. Critics also warn that larger platforms could pass the cost onto consumers, potentially raising the price of digital goods and services in France.",
  "summary": "Socialist deputy Laurent Lhardit's amendment passed the National Assembly by just 11 votes to 10. In fact, only 35 of the chamber's 577 deputies were even in the room at the time. Both the government and the budget's own rapporteur had advised against it, too. Read Entire Article",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "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."
}