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BBC to force more to pay licence fee with ‘YouTube tax’ (www.independent.co.uk)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
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Currently, anyone who uses a television to watch content must pay the licence fee even if they do not watch the BBC. Under the proposed changes it would be expanded to cover all other online providers, such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, YouTube, which are currently exempt.

The Whitehall source explained that the move was “because people are able to use them to avoid paying currently”. They added: “It’s not fair that people are essentially able to watch television content but avoid the licence fee.”

Why would the BBC be allowed to collect money on services it does not provide? This is basically saying "everyone must pay this fee, or unplug their internet".

At that point, you might as well just take it from the government budget.

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[–] 16 points 2 days ago

At what point does the definition of "television content" stop? If independently produced and self-published video on YouTube counts, then what about videos on other social platforms? What about video on other sites? Does any HTML/webdav video stream count as "television content" now?

I'm not trying to invoke the "slippery slope" fallacy, but this stuff needs to be defined well in any applicable law, and if past and recent laws made about the internet in the UK are anything to go by, it absolutely won't be...

So, here's a better idea: how about instead of trying to charge people for watching YouTube, we tax the multi-trillion usd global mega corporation that owns it

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