The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine wants to get information about the commercial activities of Telegram channels in Ukraine. To do this, the parliament will send a request to the State Tax Service. This was stated in an interview with Detector Media by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech.
He believes that the tax authorities should find out how the editorial offices of anonymous publics exist and whether they pay taxes on advertising and announcements. The request will include requests regarding Telegram in general and specific publics that contain a lot of advertising and demonstrate economic activity, in particular.
"I am convinced that we will see that if taxes are paid, they are tears and drops. That's why the key story now is not only to agree with Pavel Durov (one of the founders of Telegram) that we have mechanisms to influence Russian propaganda, but also to find out why such a profitable business is most likely very untaxed in our country," he said.
Yurchyshyn is convinced that anonymous Telegram channels need to register as media.
"As for the 'editors' of anonymous Telegram channels who pose as real editors, I always have a key question: "Have you considered registering as a media?" The law on media allows electronic media to register. They answer that they have considered it, but do not register because there are a lot of restrictions. So we, as a state, have to motivate them. Anonymity is irresponsibility and an opportunity not to be transparent. Freedom of speech is a derivative of responsibility. Anonymity is not about freedom of speech, it's about the freedom to say anything and not be held accountable for it," Yurchyshyn emphasized.
