Three tax-preparation companies have shared sensitive personal information of millions of taxpayers with Meta and other Big Tech companies like Google, according to a new report by congressional Democrats.
The tax-prep companies—TaxAct, H&R Block, and TaxSlayer—are said to have “shared millions of taxpayers’ data with Meta, Google, and other Big Tech firms” using computer code known as pixels, according to the July 12 report (pdf). Pixels, used across the internet, is a piece of code on websites that is used to gather information about visitors that helps in understanding their interests and behaviors.
“Tax-prep companies shared extraordinarily sensitive personal and financial information with Meta,” the report said. Collected data include names, tax information, and details of dependents among others.
Though the tax firms and Big Tech claimed that the shared data were anonymous, the report pointed out that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and experts have suggested the data could be used to identify individuals.
During the investigation, Meta admitted that it used the collected data to target ads to taxpayers as well as train the company’s AI algorithms.
The report was prepared by U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.).
The lawmakers point out that the report reveals a “shocking breach of taxpayer privacy by tax prep companies and by Big Tech firms that appeared to violate taxpayers’ rights and may have violated taxpayer privacy law.”
“The Internal Revenue Service, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice should fully investigate this matter and prosecute any company or individuals who violated the law,” the report said. The lawmakers sent a letter to these agencies demanding an investigation.
Collected Data, Violation of Privacy Law
The data of users were collected via Meta Pixel and Google Analytics. TaxAct’s Meta Pixel deployment collected information including taxpayer’s full names, email, country, state, city, zip codes, phone numbers, gender, date of birth, filing status, approximate adjusted gross income, approximate refund amount, names of dependents, buttons clicked online, and web browser used.
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