Turkey Wants to Tax Facebook and Twitter

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Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, listens during a joint press conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014.

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-04-15 14:38:47 UTC

In a new stage in Turkey's strife against U.S. social media companies, the Turkish government now wants Twitter and Facebook to pay taxes to its treasury — despite the fact that neither have an office in Turkey.

All social media companies that do business in Turkey should pay taxes to the Turkish Government and have an office in the country, said Turkey's Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek in a press conference on Tuesday, according to news reports.

His remarks came just a couple of days after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Twitter of being a "tax evader."

See also: The 10 Countries With the Most Internet Freedom

"Many social media firms, including Twitter, are reaping unfair profits from Turkey and they aren't paying taxes due on those gains. We see this as a serious problem," Simsek said. "If a firm is transacting in a country through the cyber world, and especially not setting up an office, this is unacceptable. We must definitely tax them."

The Turkish government estimates that Twitter makes $35 million in ad revenue in the country, none of which is taxed locally.

Twitter's Vice President and head of global public policy Colin Crowell and other company representatives have been meeting with the Turkish government on Monday and Tuesday, 12 days after Turkey lifted the ban on the social network.

When it comes to Twitter, taxes aren't Turkey's only requirement. The government also wants the company to implement Turkish court orders and enable account blocking, and it seems like Twitter is going to accept these demands.

An unnamed Turkish official told Reuters that Twitter has agreed to shut down some accounts and will establish a more formal mechanism to handle Turkish court rulings involving Twitter accounts.

"The two sides understood each other fully after the presentations, and a decision was made to establish a system for cooperation in the future," the official reportedly said. Mashable has reached out to Twitter for comment.

Turkey is not the first country to demand taxes from U.S. tech companies. Governments across Europe have been asking Google, Amazon and others to pay taxes in their respective countries for a long time. Some of these companies have their European headquarters in countries like Ireland, or Luxembourg, where corporate tax rates are lower.

The conflict between Turkey and social media started on March 20, when Erdoğan pledged to "eradicate" Twitter and imposed a block on the micro-blogging platform. A series of legal challenges led to the Constitutional Court, which ruled that the ban violated Turks' free speech rights, and that it had to be lifted. Begrudgingly, the government respected the order.

Just a week after the Twitter ban, Turkey blocked access to YouTube as well. And despite a lower court order to lift the ban, YouTube still remains blocked in Turkey.

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Topics: Internet freedom, taxes, turkey, Twitter, U.S., US & World, World, YouTube