3 tax prep firms shared ‘extraordinarily sensitive’ data about taxpayers with Meta, lawmakers say
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three large tax preparation firms sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years, a group of congressional Democrats reported on Wednesday.
They say some of that data was then used by Meta to create targeted advertising to its own users, other companies, and to train Meta’s algorithms.
The Democrats’ report urges federal agencies to investigate and potentially go to court over the wealth of information that H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer shared with the social media giant.
In a letter to the heads of the IRS, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS watchdog, seven lawmakers say their findings “reveal a shocking breach of taxpayer privacy by tax prep companies and by Big Tech firms.”
Their report said highly personal and financial information about sources of taxpayers’ income.
