The tax authorities now have the means to collect personal data on social networks and online platforms. The hunt for fraudsters has started on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Airbnb and even Blablacar.
The device was validated by Parliament over a year ago, as part of the 2020 finance bill. It will finally be able to officially see the light of day. A decree published on February 13 Official newspaper now allows the Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFiP) and the Directorate General of Customs to collect and use data freely accessible on social networks and digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Le Bon Coin, Airbnb or even Blablacar . This three-year experimental device will start in the coming weeks, specifies the DGFiP in Figaro.
Only public data that does not require entering a password or registering on the site
For the administration, this will allow switch from manual data search to professional search, thanks to artificial intelligence and the use of algorithms. Only the public data relating to the person who deliberately disclosed them and whose access does not require entering a password or registering on the site in question can be collected and exploited, specifies the decree.
In other words, if your Insta account is in private mode and your publications can only be viewed by friends chosen in advance, the tax authorities will not be able to use them. The same goes for comments that could be left following a publication. They cannot be exploited in any way, says the decree. If an Internet user accuses you in a comment of being a follower of tax fraud, the DGFiP cannot use it against you.
Concretely, the data collected must be destroyed within 30 days unless they can be a clue. In this case, they can be kept for a maximum of one year and then destroyed, unless they are used in the context of criminal or fiscal proceedings. The destruction then occurs in a second step.
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This device is very criticized, an expert interviewed by MoneyVox even fearing the creation of an Orwellian system. This new tool, available to the DGFiP, aims, in the words of Gerald Darmanin, at the time Minister of Public Accounts, fight against those who profess to sell tobacco or drugs on the internet. It is not about looking at what you are going to book as a hotel on booking.com. It does not prevent, despite this reassuring speech from the former tenant of Bercy, an individual who would declare himself domiciled abroad to escape French tax could be called to order if his publications show that he is in reality domiciled in France, reminds Le Figaro. It could well be that in the long term, this new tax weapon will also see its field of action extend to social fraud.
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