Business protests take to the web.
During last year’s Arab Spring, ordinary citizens ousted dictators with the help of social media. The powerful effects of social networking sites are now being felt in the business world, as young french entrepreneurs took to Facebook in protest of a new tax increase on the rich.
The logo of “Les Pigeons” https://www.facebook.com/lespigeonsentrepreneurs
Led by an I.T. investor, the group calls themselves Les Pigeons. It demanded via the web that the French government reconsider a tax hike on start-up capital. The group argues that this tax will deter entrepreneurship. With about 70,000 likes, it pushed the government to quickly U-turn, compromise on this policy and reassess others.
Street protests are common in France, but they tend to have little effect. I found it surprising that this method was so successful; it will definitely trigger a shift in the way businesses protest regulation not only in France but also around the globe.
If Hollande’s party continues to bow down to small protests, they may face future difficulty http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/may/08/francois-hollande-startups
Although I think it was bad policy to begin with, the government made a mistake by backing down. The socialist party was elected on a strong mandate to increase taxes on the rich. Backtracking over 70,000 Facebook likes encourages civil dissidence, and appears weak and surrendering; a stereotype France is already struggling to quell.
Spark: Rolling Back a Tax Increase via Facebook