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In search of new means of detecting fraudsters, the government has just given the tax administration and customs the possibility of collecting information freely accessible on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, but also on the implementation platforms. relationship between individuals such as Airbnb, BlaBlaCar or LeBoncoin. This faculty will be set up on an experimental basis for 3 years.
To improve the fight against tax and customs fraud, tax and customs officials are authorized to experiment for three years with the collection of personal data on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and on internet connection platforms. (Airbnb, LeBonCoin, etc.).
Only public information is targeted
Established by a decree taken in application of article 154 of the Finance Law for 2020, this system will allow the tax authorities and customs to compare the lifestyle of taxpayers appearing on the internet and that declared in administrative documents.
To track down fraudulent breaches, they can use an algorithm made up of keywords, ratios or even indications of dates and places. However, there is no question of opening access to all data published on the Internet: the collection of information is limited only to content deliberately disclosed to the public and freely accessible.
Thus, as soon as the Internet user’s account is in “private” mode, that is to say that the information can only be seen by authorized persons, the tax authorities cannot consult them. It is therefore wise to check its privacy settings and any comments posted by a third party that the account holder wishes to hide.
When the tax or customs officials identify information likely to help identify infringements among the photos and publications posted online, they will be authorized to keep the data for one year. Other information, without procedural interest, will be destroyed within thirty days of its collection.
A 2-step experiment
In practice, experimentation with the new system will first of all include “a learning and design phase” during which the tax authorities will have to equip themselves with tools for analyzing and collecting publications on social networks and platforms. online contact. It must also develop relevance criteria or indicators likely to characterize shortcomings and infringements.
Once this information has been collected, a phase of data exploitation will open during which the tax authorities will have to identify the publications that could demonstrate that the taxpayer has illegal behavior, such as an easy lifestyle deduced from photographs, without declared income in result.
For its part, the CNIL (National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms) specified that the experiment will have to be the subject of an initial evaluation, the results of which will be sent to it and to Parliament no later than 18 months before its term and a final assessment, 6 months before the end of the test.
