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A comment on France has approved a digital services tax despite threats of retaliation by US. Parent comment

Re:France has approved a digital services tax despite threat... by NeedMoreTea on Thursday July 11, 2019 @06:48PM (#20416608)
They have saturation, or as near as they are likely to get, of the valuable eyeballs.

Where else could they expand?

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Re:France has approved a digital services tax despite threat... by 50656E6973 on Thursday July 11, 2019 @06:59PM (#20416676)
Why would they invest so heavily there if there was nothing to be gained?
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Re:France has approved a digital services tax despite threat... by NeedMoreTea on Thursday July 11, 2019 @07:23PM (#20416801)
Not nothing. Market maximising - if there's nowhere else to sell in the developed world, go to the developing world and take 5% or whatever their margin is, on a much lower value of sales (for now).

I'd say it's pretty obviously a calculated risk that they'll develop in value once hooked. Didn't Facebook have a scheme that gave net access in the developing world that re-created the AOL model? Free internet, but it's only FB internet.

The complete or comparative lack of regulation in many areas probably encourages too.

Worked for tobacco companies, works for most other industries.

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