The French Constitutional Court has granted the country’s tax authorities permission to search people’s social media accounts for evidence of tax avoidance and evasion.
Customs and tax officials will be allowed to review users’ profiles, posts and pictures for evidence of undisclosed income.
The rules are part of a broader three-year enforcement initiative passed in December 2019, which allows the French tax authorities to collect online information.
Backlash
According to the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (Step); France’s budget minister, Gérald Darmanin, said this would be to check on people who regularly post photos taken in the country, while claiming not to be French tax residents, or to compare photographs of an individual’s car with their declared income.
Another way it intends to utilise its new power is to monitor purchases on trading sites such as eBay or, the equivalent French site, Le Bon Coin.
Darmanin told French newspaper Le Figaro, as translated by the BBC: “One more tool to fight fraud”.
“If you say you’re not a fiscal resident in France and you keep posting pictures on Instagram from France, there might be an issue.”
The idea drew opposition from civil rights and privacy groups, which reported it to the country’s data protection supervisor, the National Commission for Data Protection and Liberties (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) (CNIL).
Restrictions
The law was challenged in the French Constitutional Court, which declared that the surveillance project can go ahead, but with restrictions.
The tax authorities must not attempt to gain access to password protected content.
Also, in an investigation of a taxpayer, they will only be able to use information published by that taxpayer, not by a third party.
It also insisted that the CNIL should monitor how the information was being used and conduct a review of the powers at the end of the three-year trial.
