Rumors spread in Egypt in the last 24 hours that Facebook and Instagram will begin collecting tax for advertisements purchased in the country. The claim says that tax is estimated by 18 percent of the total spending budget.
Why is it a false claim?
A screenshot of sales tax in Egyptian pound was added to the advertiser’s Facebook ad set under the daily budget amount has been widely shared on Facebook.
First reason why this is a false news: any advertiser can choose any currency to be his Facebook ads currency. Which doesn’t necessary be for an Egyptian advertiser.
Second reason: None of our connected Egyptian agencies or advertisers have reported such a change in Facebook advertisements.
Third reason: The source of the screenshot is unknown, and no official announcement came out from Facebook nor the Egyptian government to confirm such news.
Fourth reason and the most important evidence that this is a fake news is that sales tax in Egypt doesn’t exceed 14% while in the screenshot it is 18%.
last summer, Canada started to collect sales tax on Facebook advertisements.
