Apple And Amazon Still Haven’t Joined The French Initiated “Tech for Good Call”

The French government has called out Amazon and Apple, the two high profiled American tech companies that are yet to correspond with the new french initiative that encourages tech companies to openly adhere to “moralities”, including tax payment.

For the past two years, the current French government’s administration has been trying to channel its influence to persuade tech companies to be more responsible for their services.  For instance, tech companies are expected to curtail the challenges attached to their platforms, such as protecting consumer data and scrapping online hate speech.

France President Emmanuel Macron said it would be much appreciable if tech companies are responsible enough to impact state coffers and not take advantage of such circumstances.

Lately, the French government has been calling for tax payment from tech companies just as technology platforms have been experiencing a good year due to the pandemic’s influence that halted other socio-economic activities.

Based on the French point of view, tech companies are supposed to pay higher taxes due to their present net worth they have accumulated since the pandemic. However, the tech firms’ tax payment has been paused because of tax policy modification failure.

On Monday, Macron’s adviser said that his President had established a new initiative tagged “Tech for Good Call,” which is enthused by the COVID-19 pandemic and how tech companies relate with our livelihood post-pandemic times. The French government is encouraging tech companies to be a participant in the program.

However, the French government has revealed a list of tech companies that signed its initiative. They underlined Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO), Sundar Pichai (Google CEO), Brad Smith (Microsoft president), and 72 other chief executives of tech companies have signed up for the “Tech for Good Call” initiative whereas Amazon and Apple Inc are still yet to correspond.

The French government said that both Apple and Amazon are welcome to join the initiative just as they are still discussing with tech companies. Meanwhile, the two US-based tech firms have not said a word relating to the French initiative, although a representative of Amazon declined to adhere to the initiative.

During a press briefing, the French presidential adviser said “The goal is also to observe objectively those who decide to play ball and align their interest with individuals and societies and those who stay out of this joint movements.”

In 2018, the French government hosted the “Tech for Good Call” summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, where Mark Zuckerberg represented the tech executives. The 2018 summit ascertained active agencies’ establishment resolving issues between high profiled tech companies and the government.

A French official said it is not compulsory to partake in the French initiative, but the French government intends to channel the “Tech for Good Call” as a tool to influence the forthcoming negotiations on tax policies that regulate tech companies.

While the OECD has yet to conclude its tax policy, the United States is still against France on the digital tax initiative.

The “Tech for Good Call” initiative is ideal for the French to identify the companies that adhere to its tax payment and other countries where they operate businesses.

The initiative will also address preventive measures to ill online content such as violence, child sexual abuse material, terrorism, among other issues.