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Belarus’s Ministry of Taxes and Duties has published a post on its Telegram channel hinting at a possible block on Spotify.
The ministry has the authority to restrict access to foreign online services if the companies operating them fail to pay VAT on sales in Belarus.
“Simply put, a foreign company that has failed to pay taxes to the budget on revenue received from Belarusian music lovers may lose the ability to distribute its content in Belarus. How long do you think that would last? Until the tax debt is repaid. A kind of ‘wall of shame’ is available on the MTD website. Take a look.
Of course, we already anticipate music lovers’ outrage: ‘You can’t do this so abruptly!’ However, preventive work with such a debtor — informing, warning, persuading and explaining — is carried out for six months before the service is disconnected. But why should a foreign company, say a Swedish one, care about the quality of its service if subscribers have already paid in advance and it has no intention of addressing their complaints? Sweden is a long way from Belarus. No trains or planes travel there,” the ministry said.
At the time of publication, however, the relevant list of online resources did not mention Spotify. The latest entry on the list dates back to the summer of last year.
The ministry said the post would be continued.
“As the accompanying track to the foreign company’s slogan, ‘Listen to what you want, or let us choose for you — we’ll try to surprise you,’ we would like to choose a requiem…” the ministry added.