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do you really think that this isn't a case of selective law enforcement? the IRS is famously understaffed, why Facebook? why not Apple? or Amazon? or will they

do you really think that this isn't a case of selective law enforcement? the IRS is famously understaffed, why Facebook? why not Apple? or Amazon? or will they go after them next?? edit: and google?

Will_Do 7y ago
My guess: Facebook makes an enormous percentage[^1] of its revenue in the US compared to Amazon/Apple. This might make it legally more tricky to argue that its Irish profits are not actually US profits. Also the IRS would definitely go after Amazon instead if it were politically motivated. [1]: Can't find absolute numbers but US users have 10x revenue per user: https://www.statista.com/statistics/251328/facebooks-average-revenue-per-user-by-region/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/251328/facebooks-average...
- naringas 7y ago
  > Also the IRS would definitely go after Amazon instead if it were politically motivated. amazon is running computing services for the government, which makes me doubt it. And what about Google?
  - res0nat0r 7y ago
    Amazon is suing the government right now because of the abrupt cancellation of a 10 BILLION dollar government cloud contract that the likely were on the way to winning, that the Trump administration intervened with likely because they don't like the Washington Post (owned by Bezos) reporting of Trump's corruption. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-13/amazon-microsoft-jedi-military-cloud-computing-contract https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-13... Also if FB is being picked out of all large companies by the Trump administration for something like this which most all large companies have been doing for decades it's easy to believe it may be to get FB back in line with the fake narrative of "stop silencing conservatives on FB" which is a narrative that doesn't exist, but has been pushed by Trump admin folks online for a while now.
JakeTheAndroid 7y ago
According to Complianceowl, they may also be in the crosshairs (I have no idea myself): > Secondly, have you done your research? Surely Facebook is not the only company being targeted by the government right now. I can assure you that, surely there are more. But, if this administration does have something to do with targeting Facebook, why would they not go after Amazon if this is politically charged? Trump has been vocal about his hatred of Bezos and Amazon, and his base would love to see it. It would be a fairly safe thing to go after, and honestly even I would have trouble being outraged by it as a non-Trump person. Also, does the IRS need staff to sue an entity? If they wanted to audit Facebook, sure, they would need staff. But in this case, it's a lawsuit. All you need is lawyers. And since lawyers aren't busy doing IRS audits, they probably have a lot more free time to handle billion dollar lawsuits.

do you really think that this isn't a case of selective law enforcement? the IRS is famously understaffed, why Facebook? why not Apple? or Amazon? or will they go after them next?? edit: and google?

Will_Do 7y ago

My guess: Facebook makes an enormous percentage[^1] of its revenue in the US compared to Amazon/Apple. This might make it legally more tricky to argue that its Irish profits are not actually US profits. Also the IRS would definitely go after Amazon instead if it were politically motivated. [1]: Can't find absolute numbers but US users have 10x revenue per user: https://www.statista.com/statistics/251328/facebooks-average-revenue-per-user-by-region/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/251328/facebooks-average...

naringas 7y ago
> Also the IRS would definitely go after Amazon instead if it were politically motivated. amazon is running computing services for the government, which makes me doubt it. And what about Google?
- res0nat0r 7y ago
  Amazon is suing the government right now because of the abrupt cancellation of a 10 BILLION dollar government cloud contract that the likely were on the way to winning, that the Trump administration intervened with likely because they don't like the Washington Post (owned by Bezos) reporting of Trump's corruption. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-13/amazon-microsoft-jedi-military-cloud-computing-contract https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-13... Also if FB is being picked out of all large companies by the Trump administration for something like this which most all large companies have been doing for decades it's easy to believe it may be to get FB back in line with the fake narrative of "stop silencing conservatives on FB" which is a narrative that doesn't exist, but has been pushed by Trump admin folks online for a while now.

JakeTheAndroid 7y ago

According to Complianceowl, they may also be in the crosshairs (I have no idea myself): > Secondly, have you done your research? Surely Facebook is not the only company being targeted by the government right now. I can assure you that, surely there are more. But, if this administration does have something to do with targeting Facebook, why would they not go after Amazon if this is politically charged? Trump has been vocal about his hatred of Bezos and Amazon, and his base would love to see it. It would be a fairly safe thing to go after, and honestly even I would have trouble being outraged by it as a non-Trump person. Also, does the IRS need staff to sue an entity? If they wanted to audit Facebook, sure, they would need staff. But in this case, it's a lawsuit. All you need is lawyers. And since lawyers aren't busy doing IRS audits, they probably have a lot more free time to handle billion dollar lawsuits.