They have become the digital extension of our daily lives. Meta, X, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, Spotify, and Airbnb – these platforms that captivate billions of people worldwide are no longer just spaces for entertainment or social connection. They have become economic machines of unprecedented power, whose mechanisms largely escape state control and traditional regulations. In Morocco, this shift is now tangible. And since June 11, 2026, a new chapter has opened: the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI) launched its digital services taxation platform, ending years of waiting and fiscal uncertainty.
The idea that the virtual can generate real economic value was long seen as abstract. Yet Paul Romer, Nobel Prize winner in economics in 2018, 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, and Silicon Valley, perfectly embody this dynamic. They did not appear out of nowhere; they were designed, funded, and deployed because actors saw profitability in them.
The numbers reveal the scale of the phenomenon. More than 36.5% of all time spent on the internet is now on social media. Nearly half of users rely on these platforms to stay in touch with loved ones (48.6%), while a third use them to pass the time (37.3%) or get information (34.6%). But behind these social uses lies an advertising goldmine that accounts for roughly 85% of these platforms’ revenues. And this goldmine keeps growing.
Companies, large and small, have grasped the value of this showcase. Globally, 90% of businesses using social media report benefits from it. The influencer marketing market reached $16.4 billion in 2022, twenty times more than in 2015. This tidal wave is driven by influencers whose engagement rate hits 96%, far surpassing content directly published by brands.
Morocco is not on the sidelines of this revolution. With 23.8 million social media users (63.4% of the population), the kingdom represents a substantial potential market. In January 2022, YouTube had about 21.5 million users, Facebook Messenger 8.35 million, and TikTok 5.97 million users over 18. These figures are not mere statistics: they represent communities, audiences, and fan bases that, for new internet entrepreneurs, are true mines of potential customers. As Mohcine Benachir, CEO of Prestige Informatique, puts it: “Today, we are increasingly facing a digital economy that has become a real subject in Morocco.” Transactions conducted through social networks and their platforms have become an undeniable economic reality. Any company wanting to grow must be present there, as these spaces have become essential communication and sales channels.
Investment in digital advertising confirms this trend. According to the Digital Trends Morocco 2024 study, the digital budget now accounts for nearly 17% of companies’ marketing budgets. Social media ad purchases are the main tools used, and the market is moving away from outsourcing. Yet, and this is the crux, this financial windfall largely escapes the national economy.
The fiscal paradox: giants that don’t pay taxes
The observation is bitter. Local news sites are stifled by tech giants – Facebook and Google leading the pack – who dominate the online advertising market. They share between 60% and 70% of the market. In 2022 alone, Google posted a net profit of $60 billion, mainly from online ads. Yet neither Google nor Facebook pays taxes in Morocco.
“Social networks are indeed virtual in terms of access, but they also represent a real economy,” says a source. The problem, he continues, is that “these digital behemoths are not established in Morocco, so we lack control and cannot negotiate with them.” When a Moroccan company wants to advertise, it pays Meta… in foreign currency. And once that currency leaves the kingdom, it doesn’t come back. This is a fiscal and monetary black hole with far from trivial consequences. In 2018, a special commission from the DGI and the foreign exchange office already looked into taxing the advertising revenues of GAFAM in Morocco.
But since then, it was status quo. Local players were calling for awareness. Mounir Jazouli, former president of GAM, warned about the need for local publishers to pool their strength to face GAFAM. “One of the key challenges is to offer Moroccan advertisers advanced technological platforms and services that can compete with those of GAFAM,” he explained. He also mentioned the need to reinvent business models, for example, by making article reading conditional on watching an ad video.
The turning point of June 2026: VAT on digital services
This fiscal vacuum ended on June 11, 2026. That day, the DGI launched its “Taxation on Digital Services” platform, accessible via the SIMPL portal. Concretely, foreign digital service providers – Netflix, Spotify, Google, Meta, Airbnb, Uber, and many others – must now declare their turnover generated in Morocco and pay the corresponding VAT. This mechanism, provided for by article 28 of decree No. 2-25-862 published in the Official Bulletin in December 2025, imposes several obligations. Providers must first register on the platform to get a tax identification number. They must then submit 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, subject to tax authority inspection.
The DGI has published a guide to help operators with the new procedure. But beyond the technical aspect, this is a strong political and economic signal. Morocco thus joins around thirty countries that have chosen to tax digital giants, often following OECD recommendations. And this is no small matter: in 2022, a World Bank report estimated that full digitalization of the economy in the MENA region could lead to an increase in GDP per capita of at least 46% over thirty years, or a gain of $1.6 trillion. The same report noted that frictional unemployment could drop from 10% to 7% over six years. Ouassim Driouchi, associate for Telecoms and Innovation at BearingPoint, explains: “The implementation of VAT on foreign digital services (decree 2.25.862) is not a Moroccan exception, but a healthy and inevitable convergence with OECD standards (BEPS plan) and practices already in place in the European Union (OSS one-stop shop) or South Africa.
Beyond the fiscal revenue (estimated between 500 million and 1 billion dirhams), the real issue is repairing a historic competitive asymmetry. For years, Moroccan startups, local media, and digital service providers were taxed from the first dirham of turnover, facing internet giants that enjoyed a de facto 20% competitive advantage. This reform is essential to protect local innovation and clean up economic competition in the Moroccan market.”
Stakes: sovereignty, currency, and economic model
But taxing GAFAM is not just about fiscal revenue. It touches on issues of economic sovereignty and development model. As our source recalls, “it is important to be able to negotiate not only on data but also on the submarine economic model.” Behind online advertising lie data, algorithms, and consumption habits that escape national regulators. The entry of national players, beyond market balance, will also help stop foreign currency purchases made on digital platforms. Today, every dirham spent on Facebook or Google advertising is a capital outflow that generates no local wealth. By imposing VAT and requiring declarations, Morocco gains the means to repatriate part of this added value.
“The risk is that the law remains inoperative without a cutting-edge technological infrastructure. To geolocate consumption, we need to cross-reference, in real time and securely, multiple data sources (IP addresses, +212 phone prefixes, bank BINs). This decree is a great opportunity for the state to lay the foundations of a ‘4.0’ tax administration, capable of auditing invisible value flows through advanced data analysis and interoperability with banking and telecom ecosystems,” warns Ouassim Driouchi.
The road is still long. Digital giants have the legal and financial means to challenge these new rules. And the DGI platform, as advanced as it is, will not alone resolve the structural imbalance between local players with limited resources and global behemoths. As Mounir Jazouli pointed out, Moroccan publishers must definitely pool their strength to form a real counterweight to GAFAM.
