French lawmakers have approved a strict new tax on internet data. By a single vote of 11 to 10, the National Assembly added a rule to the 2027 budget that will charge companies €0.055 per gigabyte of data they transmit to users in France.
🇫🇷 Francja zatwierdziła wprowadzenie podatku w wysokości 5,5 eurocenta za gigabajt ruchu internetowego dostarczanego użytkownikom indywidualnym, nakładając nowy obowiązek fiskalny na gigantów technologicznych,takich jak Google, Netflix, Amazon czy Meta, co ma przynieść skarbowi państwa do 10 miliardów euro.
— Mateusz Grzeszczuk – Podróż bez Paszportu (@PBPaszportu) November 2, 2026
The tax received criticism online immediately. On X, @Unk highlighted the severe privacy threat, explaining that the government will have to closely monitor private internet connections to accurately count the data being sent.
@brankopetric00 Don’t forget increase surveillance to data being sent. Since how would they know how much data is being sent, and what if it content restricted content
— Unk331 (@unk331) October 31, 2026
Another commenter on X @Mattei also pointed out the sheer arrogance of the policy, arguing that it is impossible for one country to force millions of foreign website owners to pay a fee simply for letting French citizens visit their pages.
@brankopetric00 good luck collecting from the hundreds of millions of website owners around the world. The arrogance to think they can tax the world for servicing their citizens is disgusting frankly.
— Mattei (@Mattei420) October 31, 2026
Finally, another user on X @Anthony warned of the direct financial hit to normal citizens. He calculated that because a standard person uses up to 1,000 gigabytes a month, internet businesses will likely pass the cost down, forcing regular people to pay an extra 500 euros a year.
@brankopetric00 A regular person uses between 300 to 1000 gigabytes total a month. That might be upwards of 500 euros a year. Not to mention internet based businesses like retail or food.
— Anthony Guzman (@anthoguzzi) October 31, 2026
READ ALSO: France Increases Crypto Security Response After Kidnapping Cases Surge in 2026
How blockchain could complicate data tracking
France’s proposed internet tax could become harder to apply to decentralized storage networks because they do not rely on one central server. Networks such as Filecoin and Arweave distribute stored data across computers in different locations. This creates three possible challenges for tax authorities.
The data comes from multiple locations. Instead of downloading a file from one central server, users may retrieve parts of it from different computers across several countries. This makes it harder to identify one source responsible for the entire data transfer.
Also, there is no company controlling all the storage. Traditional platforms usually have identifiable operators that own or manage their servers. Decentralized networks rely on independent storage providers, making it more difficult to determine which party should be responsible for the tax.
Third, data can pass through different service providers. Users may access decentralized content through gateways and other retrieval services. This can make it difficult to establish who transmitted the data and which company should be charged under the proposed French rules. However, this does not mean blockchain traffic cannot be tracked. Internet providers can still measure data usage. The challenge is identifying the right party to tax when storage and delivery are spread across multiple providers.
The tax may remove the heavy data of modern advertising
Politicians believe global tech companies will pay this new data tax using their profits. In reality, the modern internet is built on sending massive amounts of hidden data, and companies may refuse to pay for it.
To survive this tax, some global websites will either block French users entirely, or force them to pay expensive monthly subscription fees to access basic information.
Digital currency offers a completely different business model that strips away this heavy data. Using tools like the Lightning Network on Bitcoin, a user can stream digital pennies instantly to a website creator with almost zero fees. Because the user pays a fraction of a cent directly for the exact article they want to read, the creator no longer needs to make money from advertisers.
In another development, French crypto platform Coinhouse has received authorization under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework through France’s financial regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers, placing it among the early firms operating under the new European rulebook.
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