They have become the digital extension of our daily lives. Meta, X, Instagram, TikTok, but also Netflix, Spotify, or Airbnb: these platforms that captivate billions of people around the world are no longer just spaces for entertainment or social connection. They have turned into economic machines of unprecedented power, whose workings largely escape states and traditional regulations. In Morocco, this shift is now tangible. And since June 11, 2026, a new chapter has begun: the General Directorate of Taxes launched its platform for taxing digital services, ending years of waiting and fiscal uncertainty.
The idea that the virtual can generate real value was long seen as an abstraction. Yet Paul Romer, 2018 Nobel laureate in economics, laid the theoretical foundations for this evolution: technical progress is not accidental, he reminds us. It is the result of rational economic calculation, produced by economic activity itself. Social networks, born in major research hubs like MIT, Harvard, or Silicon Valley, perfectly embody this dynamic. They did not fall from the sky; they were designed, funded, and deployed because actors saw profitability in them.
Numbers illustrate the scale of the phenomenon. More than 36.5% of total time spent on the internet is now on social networks. Nearly half of users rely on them to stay in touch with loved ones (48.6%), one-third to pass the time (37.3%) or to get informed (34.6%). But behind these social uses lies an advertising windfall that accounts for about 85% of these platforms’ revenues. And that windfall keeps growing.
Companies, large and small, have grasped the value of this showcase. Globally, 90% of businesses using social networks report benefiting from them. The influencer marketing market was worth $16.4 billion in 2022, twenty times more than in 2015. A tidal wave driven by influencers whose engagement rate reaches 96%, far higher than content published directly by brands.
And the kingdom is not on the sidelines of this revolution. With 23.8 million social media users, or 63.4% of the total population, Morocco represents a considerable potential market. In January 2022, YouTube had about 21.5 million users, Facebook Messenger 8.35 million, and TikTok 5.97 million users aged 18 and over. These figures are not mere statistics: they represent communities, audiences, “fanbases” that are, for new online entrepreneurs, real mines of potential customers. As Mohcine Benachir, CEO of Prestige Informatique, notes, “today we are facing, day by day, a digital economy that is becoming a real subject in Morocco.” Transactions carried out through social networks and their platforms are becoming an unavoidable economic reality. Any business that wants to grow must be present there, because these spaces have become essential communication and sales channels.
Investments in digital advertising bear witness. According to the Digital Trends Morocco 2024 study, the digital budget now represents nearly 17% of companies’ marketing budgets. Advertising purchases on social networks are the main tools used, and the market is increasingly leaning away from outsourcing. Yet, and here is the rub, this financial windfall largely escapes the national economy.
The fiscal paradox: giants that pay no taxes
Because the observation is bitter. Local news sites are choked by the tech giants – Facebook and Google lead the way – who reign supreme over the online advertising market. Alone, they share between 60% and 70% of the market. In 2022 alone, Google recorded a net profit of $60 billion, generated mainly from online advertising. And yet, neither Google nor Facebook pay taxes in Morocco.
“Social networks are indeed virtual in terms of access, but they are also a real economy,” a source confides. The problem, he continues, is that “these digital mastodons are not established in Morocco, so we do not have the mastery or control, we cannot discuss with them.” When a Moroccan company wants to advertise, it pays Meta… in foreign currency. And that currency, once it leaves the kingdom, does not return. It is a fiscal and monetary black hole with far from trivial consequences. In 2018, a special commission from the General Directorate of Taxes and the Exchange Office had already looked into the taxation of advertising revenues from GAFAM in Morocco.
But since then, it was status quo. Local actors called for awareness. Mounir Jazouli, former president of GAM, had already warned in these columns about the need for local publishers to pool their forces to face GAFAM. “One of the challenges is above all to offer Moroccan advertisers efficient technological platforms and also services that can compete with those of GAFAM,” he explained. He also mentioned the need to reinvent economic models, for example by conditioning the reading of an article on opening a video advertisement.
The June 2026 turning point: VAT on digital services
This fiscal vacuum came to an end on June 11, 2026. That day, the DGI put online its platform “Taxation on digital services,” accessible via the SIMPL portal. Concretely, foreign providers of digital services – Netflix, Spotify, Google, Meta, Airbnb, Uber, and many others – must now declare their turnover realized in Morocco and pay the corresponding VAT. This mechanism, provided for in Article 28 of Decree No. 2-25-862 published in the Official Bulletin in December 2025, imposes several obligations. Concerned providers must first register on the platform to obtain a tax identification number. They must then file a quarterly declaration of turnover realized in Morocco, before the end of the first month of each quarter. Finally, they must keep a detailed register of services provided, which may be inspected by the tax administration.
The DGI has made a guide available to support operators in this new procedure. But beyond the technical aspect, it is a strong political and economic signal. Morocco thus joins about thirty countries that have chosen to tax digital giants, often based on OECD recommendations. And that is no small detail: in 2022, a World Bank report estimated that full digitization of the economy in the MENA region could lead to an increase in GDP per capita of at least 46% over thirty years, i.e., an estimated gain of $1,600 billion. The same report stressed that frictional unemployment could drop from 10% to 7% over six years. Ouassim Driouchi, Telecoms and Innovation partner at BearingPoint, explains: “The entry into force of VAT on foreign digital services (Decree 2.25.862) is not a Moroccan exception, but a healthy and inevitable convergence towards OECD standards (BEPS plan) and practices already in force in the European Union (OSS one-stop shop) or in South Africa.
Beyond the tax revenue (estimated between 500 million and 1 billion dirhams), the real challenge is the repair of a historic competitive asymmetry. For years, Moroccan startups, local media, and digital service providers have been taxed from the first dirham of turnover, facing internet giants benefiting de facto from a 20% competitive advantage. This reform is essential to protect local innovation and clean up economic competition on the Moroccan market.”
Stakes: sovereignty, currency, and economic model
But taxing GAFAM is not limited to a matter of tax revenue. It touches on issues of economic sovereignty and development model. As our source reminds us, “it is important to be able to discuss not only about data but also about the economic model that is submarine.” Behind online advertising are data, algorithms, consumption habits that escape national regulators. The entry of national players, beyond market balance, will also stop currency purchases made on digital platforms. Today, every dirham spent on advertising on Facebook or Google is a capital outflow that does not generate local wealth. By imposing VAT and requiring a declaration, Morocco is giving itself the means to repatriate part of that added value.
“The risk is that the law remains ineffective without a cutting-edge technological infrastructure. To geolocate consumption, one must be able to cross, in real time and securely, multiple data sources (IP addresses, +212 telephone prefixes, bank BINs). This decree is therefore an excellent opportunity for the state to lay the foundations of a ‘4.0’ tax administration, capable of auditing invisible value flows thanks to advanced data analysis and interoperability with banking and telecom ecosystems,” warns Ouassim Driouchi. However, the road is still long. Digital giants have the legal and financial means to challenge these new rules. And the DGI platform, as refined as it may be, will not alone solve the structural imbalance between local players with limited resources and global mastodons. As Mounir Jazouli emphasized, Moroccan publishers must imperatively pool their forces to build a real proposal counterweight to GAFAM.
