Spanish tax authorities inspect Twitter to find potential tax dodgers
Spain was also hit by the HSBC scandal, with more than 2,000 Spaniards revealed to hold accounts in Switzerland
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Spain’s main tax collecting body has used social media to spy on people it believes may be guilty of financial fraud, and the operation continues to expand.
The country’s Inland Revenue agency has reportedly used sites such as Twitter to trace the activities of individuals they believe may be involved in tax evasion, thelocal.es reported.
It comes shortly after the scale of the HSBC scandal was revealed. Stretching across Spain, Britain, Australia and India, among other countries, the document leak exposed thousands of tax avoiders and some evaders who had placed their money in accounts in Switzerland.
The leak, which was reported in Spain by the digital newspaper El Confidential, revealed that 2,694 Spaniards held accounts in Switzerland, with savings totalling €1.8 billion ($2.3bn).
Hacienda, as the organisation headed by Cristóbal Montoro Spain’s minister of Finance and Public Administration is known, will use algorithms to flesh out details garnered from individuals’ public postings.
The organisation will look at online transactions and who suspected individuals associate with online.
Montoro has confirmed that 100,00 ‘inspections’ have already been carried out last year, an increase of 6.8 per cent on the previous year.
However, the government minister has stressed the organisation will only access data – be it pictures, posts, or comments – that has already been made available by the user a social media website.
Spanish authorities have previously deployed social media to great effect. The Madrid police force has the second most Twitter followers (after the FBI) among law enforcement agencies and claims to be the world’s most retweeted government institution.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments