Protests after move to tax calls on messaging apps

Hundreds of people took to the streets across Lebanon on Thursday to protest dire economic conditions after a government decision to tax calls made on messaging applications sparked widespread outrage.

The far-reaching demonstrations forced the government to walk back on its decision to approve the tax late on Thursday, Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Choucair said.

Demonstrations erupted in the capital Beirut, in its southern suburbs, in the southern city of Sidon, in the northern city of Tripoli and in the Bekaa Valley, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Across the country, demonstrators chanted the popular refrain of the 2011 Arab Spring protests: “The people demand the fall of the regime.”

Protesters in the capital blocked the road to the airport with burning tyres, while others massed near the interior ministry in central Beirut, NNA said.

“We elected them and we will remove them from power,” one protester told a local TV station.

Public anger has simmered since parliament passed an austerity budget in July with the aim of trimming the country’s ballooning deficit.

The situation worsened last month after banks and money exchange houses rationed dollar sales, sparking fears of a currency devaluation.

The government is assessing a series of further belt-tightening measures it hopes will rescue the country’s ailing economy and secure $11 billion in aid pledged by international donors last year.

And it is expected to announce a series of additional tax hikes in the coming months as part of next year’s budget.

On Wednesday, the government approved tax hikes on tobacco products.

‘Direct violation’

Before the proposed tax was scrapped, Information Minister Jamal Jarrah had announced a 20 cent daily fee for messaging app users who made calls on platforms such as WhatsApp and Viber.

He told reporters after a cabinet session the move will bring $200 million annually into the government’s coffers.

Lebanese digital rights group SMEX said the country’s main mobile operators are already planning to introduce new technology that will allow them to detect whether users are trying to make internet calls using their networks.

“Lebanon already has some of the highest mobile prices in the region,” SMEX said on Twitter.

The latest policy “will force users to pay for internet services twice,” it added.

TechGeek365, another digital rights group, said it contacted WhatsApp and Facebook regarding the matter.

“A spokesperson mentioned that if the decision is taken, it would be a direct violation of their ToS (terms of service),” it said.

“Profiting from any specific functionality within WhatsApp is illegal,” it added on Twitter.

Growth in Lebanon has plummeted in the wake of repeated political deadlocks in recent years, compounded by the impact of eight years of war in neighbouring Syria.

Lebanon’s public debt stands at around $86 billion — higher than 150 percent of gross domestic product — according to the finance ministry.

Eighty percent of that figure is owed to Lebanon’s central bank and local banks.