[alephnerd]

Nope. It's because we don't have to pay a digital service tax in any of those countries (except in Russia, where American companies no longer operate due to sanctions considerations). And it's always been about DST [0][1].

No one in the policy space who is able to reach a position to affect power gives a s### about ideology unless it is a deeply personal issue for that person, and for most policymakers (who are overwhelmingly non-technical in my experience), digital free speech absolutism just isn't something they care about at a personal level.

[0] - https://www.ey.com/en_gl/insights/tax/how-taxation-of-digita...

[1] - https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/tax/newsletters/tax-policy-bulleti...

[disgruntledphd2]

> Nope. It's because we don't have to pay a digital service tax in any of those countries (except in Russia, where American companies no longer operate due to sanctions considerations). And it's always been about DST [0][1].

Then your government should pass BEPS Pillar 1, so that this doesn't happen. You can't have your cake and eat it.

[alephnerd]

Why? BEPS Pillar 1 failed at being a DST because it's fairly easily to evade it and it's definitions are fairly permissive.

[disgruntledphd2]

The deal was that BEPS would replace the digital services taxes, and lots of countries implemented it on the basis. However the US has not implemented this (for whatever reason), which means DSTs are back on the table.

From a geo-political standpoint I'd expect to see them pretty soon, especially if the US abandons Ukraine.