French officials say Google, Amazon (AMZN), Apple and Facebook (FB) are able to sell to French consumers while not paying the 19.6 percent French VAT.

FORBES: Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon: Why Cannot France Understand That They Already Do Pay Taxes?

Google cofounder Sergey Brin pointed out that half the Google Print engineering team is French.

FORBES

Google has threatened to exclude French media sites from search results if France goes ahead with plans to make search engines pay for content.

BBC: Google threatens French media ban over proposed law