The Liberals want to tax social media

The Liberals want social media companies to be taxed on their Swedish advertising and commercial revenues, reports Dagens Nyheter.

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The Liberals want to tax social media
Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

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We know that social media is a huge social, physical, and mental problem. It takes young people down all sorts of dark rabbit holes. Just like there is a tax on alcohol and gambling, so should there be a tax on social media that burdens the tech giants that deliver strongly hazardous algorithm-driven platforms, says Johan Pehrson, Minister of Education and Party Leader, to the newspaper.

The Liberals will look further into how a point tax could be designed in practice. According to Johan Pehrson, it could involve between 10 and 15 percent of the Swedish advertising and revenue of tech companies. He believes that the tax revenue the state would receive could be used for, among other things, investments in mental health and child and youth psychiatry.

Then you get the means to use to counteract people getting hurt or having their lives ruined due to the algorithms, says Pehrson.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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