flash on Nostr: ⚡️🚨🇫🇷 WTF - If the gigabyte tax becomes law, each download of GTA 6 ...
⚡️🚨🇫🇷 WTF - If the gigabyte tax becomes law, each download of GTA 6 could be taxed at a rate of €11.55 for PlayStation, Microsoft, or Steam—up to 15% of their revenue in France.
⚡️🇫🇷 ALERT - The National Assembly has just passed a new tax on Internet data, which is likely to drive up the prices of digital services for the French public.
Introduced by Socialist lawmaker Laurent Lhardit and co-sponsored by François Hollande, Olivier Faure, and Boris Vallaud, among others, the bill would tax each gigabyte transmitted to internet users at a rate of 5.5 centimes.
The Socialists hope to raise 10 billion euros per year through this tax.
Possible consequences for consumers:
• Higher subscription fees for Netflix, Disney+, YouTube Premium, and other streaming platforms.
• Higher prices for digital video games and cloud services.
• Higher advertising costs for businesses, which could be passed on to consumers through higher product prices.
• Risk of reduced video quality and data allowances.
For example, downloading a 200 GB game would theoretically incur an €11 tax for the provider, before taking into account the planned caps.
⚠️ This tax is not yet in effect. It must be included in the 2027 budget bill once it is definitively adopted and enacted.
THE VOTE IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
The tax was adopted by a vote of just 11 in favor, 10 against, and 14 abstentions.
Those who voted IN FAVOR:
• 5 Socialist deputies
• 2 LFI deputies
• 2 Green deputies
• 2 deputies from the GDR group
The 10 RN deputies present abstained. The deputies present from Ensemble pour la République, the Republican Right, and the Democrats voted against it.
