Contacting big tech companies to ask about their tax avoidance

Thursday 14th of January 2021

As part of our new campaign, we are encouraging consumers to contact big tech companies and asking them to publicly justify continued use of tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic.

There are two main ways you could contact big tech companies to justify their use of tax-avoidance schemes:

1. Publicly ask tech companies about their tax avoidance schemes on social media

We've drafted a post that you can use to publicly ask tech companies about their tax avoidance schemes on Twitter and Facebook.

The following text will appear in a pop-up if you use the Twitter widgets below:

“I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.”

On Facebook you should copy and paste the text onto your profile. When doing this make sure that each Big Tech company is tagged into the post as described below, and click 'Share'.

On Twitter please tag us into your posts using @EC_magazine and click 'Tweet'.

You can also follow us on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.

Amazon

Major brands: Amazon.co.uk, Kindle, ABE Books, The Book Depository

Product guides: booksellers, tablets

Copy and paste the following text and post it on your Facebook profile making sure that @AmazonUK is tagged in the post:

@AmazonUK I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.

Please share this post and tag the big tech companies that you would like to contact.

Tweet to @AmazonUK

Google

Major brands: Nexus, Play, Chrome, Android

Product guides: Mobile phones, email providers, tablets

Copy and paste the following text and post it on your Facebook profile making sure that @GoogleUK is tagged in the post:

@GoogleUK I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.

Please share this post and tag the big tech companies that you would like to contact.

Tweet to @Google

Facebook

Major brands: Nexus, Play, Chrome, Android

Product guides: Mobile phones, email providers, tablets

Copy and paste the following text and post it on your Facebook profile making sure that @Facebook is tagged in the post:

@Facebook I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.

Tweet to Facebook (@fbnewsroom)

Microsoft

Major brands: LinkedIn, Skype, LinkedIn, Microsoft Teams

Product guides: Video Conferencing , Email Providers, Laptops , Hybrid laptop-tablets

Copy and paste the following text and post it on your Facebook profile making sure that @MicrosoftUK is tagged in the post:

@MicrosoftUK I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.

Tweet to @Microsoft

Apple

Major brands: Apple

Product guides: mobile phones, laptops, desktops, tablets

Copy and paste the following text and post it on your Facebook profile making sure that @Apple is tagged in the post:

@Apple I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.

Tweet to @Apple

Netflix

Major brands: Netflix

Product guides: Movie streaming

Copy and paste the following text and post it on your Facebook profile making sure that @NetflixUK is tagged in the post:

@NetflixUK I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in economies severely impacted by the current pandemic #TaxTechNow.

Tweet to @netflix

2. Emailing their press offices or using other contact forms or support channels.

We have drafted text for an email below which you could modify and use should you wish to.

Email Text:

Dear [Big Tech company name here],

I have become concerned about how post-Covid societies are going to be able to pay for the rebuilding and social programmes that have become necessary.

I have also noticed that, while your company appears to be thriving economically in the pandemic, it has also been publicly criticised for its tax avoidance strategies.

I am writing to ask whether you can explain to me how it is ethical to continue to use tax avoidance schemes in a post- COVID world.

I am also keen to understand whether you have any policies preventing contributions to industry groups lobbying to prevent ethical tax reforms and interventions.

I would finally urge you to wind down all the tax avoidance schemes you currently operate and to begin to make reasonable contributions to the post-COVID societies in which you operate.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name here]

Email Amazon at amazon-pr@amazon.com
Email Google at press-uk@google.com
Email Microsoft at ukprteam@microsoft.com
Email Netflix at https://media.netflix.com/en/contact-us
Apple doesn't currently have a public facing email address.

We urge all our readers to contact big tech companies as we approach a post-COVID world. Now is the time to put pressure on businesses that use tax avoidance schemes. Thank you for reading.

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