New law enables French tax authorities to monitor (some) social media activity

French tax authorities can now look through taxpayers’ public social media activity, using automated tools and artificial intelligence (AI), in a bid to reduce fraud.

Tax authorities have been granted permission from the CNIL (France’s data privacy watchdog) to create their own social media accounts to enable them to look through and analyse all publicly-available information on users’ Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and/or LinkedIn pages.

They will primarily look for signs of tax fraud, and check if the taxpayer’s lifestyle matches that suggested by tax returns. They will also look for people who appear to be living in France but claim - for tax reasons - to be domiciled elsewhere.

The new measure was adopted by decree on December 31, 2024, and published in the Journal Officiel on January 1, 2025. It is part of an existing decree that already allowed tax authorities to use AI-assisted tools to track undeclared swimming pools, buildings, and Airbnb-style rentals. 

These were accessible on websites without a sign-up or password requirement, which was a condition for the tax authorities to be able to use the websites for the tracking. 

Read more: French property tax fraud: what is targeted other than 'secret’ swimming pools?
Read also: Tax authorities discover 120,000 undeclared swimming pools in France 

Limits to the rule

There are some limits.

The CNIL states that authorities can only access and use publicly-available content. Private messages and other data cannot be used, nor taken as evidence at any eventual court proceedings.

Read also: Which UK bank account number should be declared on French tax return
Read more: Does everyone in France need to complete an income tax return? 

Similarly, social media data may only be collected by tax authorities as part of specific suspicions over offences “listed exhaustively by law” (e.g. under-reporting or concealing taxable income).

Any other use is strictly prohibited.