The data of social platforms and networks can be used by the tax administration and customs

The Constitutional Council and the National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (CNIL) had provided their views on the scheme in the draft budget for 2020.

What data are we talking about?

The tax authorities may use open data from digital matching platforms and social networks only in connection with the following offenses: covert activity (not having declared a commercial activity to the tax authorities) and false tax domiciliation (including false residence abroad).

Only the contents relating to the person who deliberately disclosed them and whose access does not require either entering a password or registration on the site in question can be collected and exploited. It cannot therefore be information published in private mode and reserved for a certain number of authorized persons.

Where the person has on the Internet a personal page allowing the submission of comments or any other form of interaction with other persons, these comments and messages may not be subject to any exploitation.

What experiment?

The experiment will take place in 2 stages:

• a phase of learning and designing tools for collecting and analyzing publications. It will enable the development of algorithms to improve the targeting of tax audits based on the exploitation of this data. It will also identify indicators that are not personal data, such as keywords, ratios or indications of dates and places that could characterize the breaches and offenses sought;
• an exploitation phase in which this data can be used. Thus, when the processing carried out makes it possible to establish that there are indications that a person may have committed one of the breaches, the data collected will be transmitted to the competent department of the tax or customs administration and indirect duties for corroboration and enrichment.