Facebook Battles With Authorities Around The World

Facebook is currently embroiled in several regulatory battles around the world. It is facing a variety of challenges in Indonesia, the UK, Germany and Brazil. In Indonesia, Facebook has been ordered to pay local taxes or face being blocked. The Indonesian government recently announced that all internet companies that want to operate in the country must have a local office based in Indonesia and pay local taxes. If Facebook does not comply, the government has said it will block the website or reduce its bandwidth. In the UK, Facebook has announced a major overhaul to its tax structure. Revenue generated from large UK companies that advertise on Facebook will now be taxed in the UK. Previously, revenues had been taxed in Ireland, where Facebook's international headquarters is based. This had caused controversy as it resulted in the social network paying just over £4,000 in corporation tax in the UK last year. Facebook will now pay a 20% corporation tax to the UK for all profits generated from large UK businesses that advertise on the social network. This will mean it will now pay millions more pounds in tax in the UK. In Germany, Facebook is being investigated by the authorities for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the social media market and breaching data protection laws. And it's the social network's chat app WhatsApp which is causing trouble in Brazil, with a company executive recently having been arrested and held in police custody overnight for failing to hand over WhatsApp conversations between several alleged criminals. 
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