French President François Hollande, wants Internet giants like Google and Facebook to pay a special tax for the extensive amount of data they collect from users in the country. The government is frustrated about the fact that U.S.-based Internet giants are largely beyond the reach of French fiscal authorities despite the fact that they mine a lot of data from their country and in return, use it to make massive profits.
According to NY Times, France classifies personal data as the raw material of the digital economy. Therefore, the government wants to levy a tax on data collection since users of services like Google and Facebook give out their personal information. This information allows these companies to make profits through online advertising.
For instance, Google generates a little more than $30 billion a year in advertising revenue, and 1.5 billion euros, or $2 billion, comes from France. And like other American Internet heavy weights, it pays almost nothing to the French Taxman.
France is hoping that this new move will create a potential revenue source for the country, as online players from the U.S. pay it almost nothing in return for the profit they make of it.
These laws, if enforced, will threaten the current model of the data-technology industry. At the moment, Data happens to be the new-age currency for players like Facebook and Google, who gather millions of data from their users.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.comTechnology News