Indeed, on 22 November 2012, the ARCEP rendered a decision that opened an investigation in order to verify the reality and importance of the malfunctions in the traffic routing between the users of Free, a French internet service provider, a subsidiary of Iliad, and the Youtube platform, which is a subsidiary of Google.

For several weeks, many internet users and subscribers of Free complained about failures and slowdowns when accessing streaming services and applications on the internet, including the Youtube platform.

On 10 September 2012, UFC-Que Choisir, a French consumer association, had sent a letter to the ARCEP, emphasizing that a disagreement in the interconnection market and traffic routing between Free and Youtube could be the cause of these problems. According to measurements made by a specialized company which remains anonymous, the service quality in accessing Youtube services is malfunctioning, especially in the evening.

Based on these elements, the ARCEP decided to investigate further. Five operators, in particular Iliad and Google, are concerned by the procedure. The ARCEP will collect all relevant information and documents related to technical and pricing conditions for interconnection and routing traffic between Youtube and operators that carry traffic towards subscribers of Free.