Netflix has gone public with its case against new spending obligations in France, publishing an op-ed that explains why it is fighting the rules and pushing for a cap on how much streamers can be required to invest in the territory.
The piece, first run in the French daily Le Monde and written by Pauline Dauvin, Vice President of Content at Netflix France, lays out the streamer’s opposition to new diversity rules from the EU and the French government. Those rules would require streaming services to increase their investment in animation, documentaries and live performance.
According to Netflix, the regulations go too far. The company argues that they try to lock the exact genre mix of its slate into law, limit its freedom to back other kinds of French work such as drama, comedy and unscripted programming, and apply only to streamers while leaving traditional broadcasters untouched.
After an unsuccessful informal appeal, Netflix said it has joined other streaming services in filing appeals before France’s Council of State.
A report from French outlet Satellifacts indicated that Prime Video and Disney+ are also challenging the regulations. A Prime spokesperson confirmed the appeal, stressing that the move does not signal any retreat from the company’s commitment to French production. Instead, the spokesperson said, the aim is a framework that is balanced, fair and legally sound for audiences, creators and the industry. They warned that piling on new constraints, when France’s obligations under the SMAD decree are already the heaviest in the European Union, risks weakening momentum rather than building on it. Disney had not commented at the time of writing.
The new funding rules are set to phase in over the next couple of years and followed lobbying from author and producer groups, especially in the animation sector.
In its op-ed, Netflix warns that without a spending cap its role in France could shrink over time, echoing arguments it has made in other European markets with similar obligations. The company said it is calling for a cap not to reduce its involvement but to keep that involvement sustainable and in line with what audiences actually want to watch, framing the diversity challenge as one part of a wider conversation.
The dispute is not isolated. Netflix lost an appeal in Belgium over spending obligations in March, and in June its EMEA chief Larry Tanz criticised new streamer obligations in Germany, cautioning against a one-size-fits-all approach to rights retention that could end up favouring large independents backed by private equity or sovereign wealth.
Netflix currently invests €250 million a year in French series, documentaries and films, and Tanz has committed to increasing the streamer’s European spend over the next two years. Even so, the company is stepping up its lobbying against European investment rules. Last year it also filed an appeal with France’s Council of State targeting the country’s windowing regulations, which it regards as a persistent obstacle and the main reason it does not compete in the main Competition lineup at the Cannes Film Festival.
Netflix now invests more than €250 million every year in French series, films and documentaries, which makes us one of the leading private partners in the country’s creative output. Since launching in France in 2014, we have produced over 160 local films and series, from Lupin to Under Paris and Class Act to Ad Vitam, and contributed more than €2 billion to the French creative economy, supporting tens of thousands of jobs. As a committed supporter of French culture, we have spent the past decade working alongside local creators to build a slate that showcases French excellence, nurtures new voices and sparks national conversations.
Our documentaries have driven major debates, from the Cantat case to The Bus: A French Football Mutiny and the Grégory affair, reshaping how people see issues that matter. In animation, we have spotlighted French talent and craft, from Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight, created by Alain Chabat, to the global hits Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai, made in Angoulême. We are proud of that record. It shows that when French creators are free to tell the stories they believe in, audiences respond.
That very freedom is now under threat. In 2026, new diversity rules were added to the AVMS decree, doubling overnight the obligation on subscription streaming services to invest in just three genres: animation, documentaries and live performance. That may sound encouraging, especially given the work we already do in these areas. In practice, it abruptly doubles our compulsory investment in these genres, applies only to streaming services and imposes a rigid editorial template that ignores what audiences actually watch.
We already have obligations to support animation and creative documentaries, including specific sub-quotas for French-language and independent works. But these new rules cross a line. They try to fix the exact genre balance of our slate in law, restrict our ability to back other kinds of French work such as drama, comedy and unscripted, and do so only for streamers while sparing traditional broadcasters. When regulation starts programming individual services, diversity becomes a checklist and viewers lose out.
The impact reaches well beyond Netflix. When obligations are stacked ever higher on one group of players, costs rise across the board, more of the funding burden shifts onto foreign streamers, and everyone is left with less room and less incentive to take creative risks. In a market where inflation and production costs are already climbing, that is a recipe for a fragile ecosystem, with fewer bold bets, more box-ticking to satisfy the rules, and growing reliance on a handful of services to carry an unsustainable share of the load.
That is why, after an unsuccessful informal appeal, Netflix has joined other streaming services in filing appeals before France’s Council of State. This is not about dodging our responsibilities or dismantling France’s cultural exception. It is about defending a principle that matters to every creator and every viewer, namely genuine creative freedom supported by rules that are fair, proportionate and non-discriminatory.
The stakes are clear. If this diversity sub-quota stands, it will set a precedent for increasingly prescriptive and lopsided rules aimed at streamers, pushing the whole system away from audience needs and creative judgment and towards regulatory micromanagement. In a market where production costs and inflation are already rising, loading ever more rigid obligations onto a single group of players is not a sustainable way to fund French stories.
Our message is simple. We want to keep delighting audiences in France and around the world with a rich variety of French stories. To do that sustainably, we need a clear and balanced framework that respects editorial freedom and treats all major players, streamers and traditional channels alike, on a level playing field. Diversity cannot be boiled down to fixed percentages imposed on one part of the ecosystem. Real diversity comes from a broad, evolving mix of content shaped by creators, not by rigid sub-quotas.
That is also why, in parallel, we have raised concerns about the overall level of investment obligations in France and are arguing that, over time, there needs to be a cap. This is not to reduce our role but to ensure it stays sustainable and aligned with what audiences actually want to watch. The legal challenge on the diversity rules is one concrete chapter in that broader conversation.
France’s cultural exception has helped generations of artists push boundaries and find their place in the world. In the streaming age, protecting that ambition means keeping the rules sustainable and coherent rather than endlessly adding new obligations that look virtuous on paper but undermine the very pluralism they claim to defend.
That is the spirit in which Netflix is appealing France’s new diversity obligations, and the spirit in which we want to keep working with French creators, regulators and industry partners: to build a regulatory framework that genuinely protects sovereignty, strengthens the whole ecosystem and keeps audiences at the centre of everything we do.