H&R Block Gave Meta 'Extraordinarily Sensitive' Information On Taxpayers

H&R Block, Tax Act and TaxSlayer gave Meta "extraordinarily sensitive" information, according to a new congressional report.

The three tax preparation companies sent the information on millions to Meta for at least two years, according to the report.

Congressional Democrats specifically asked federal agents to thoroughly investigate what information and data those companies sent to the social media company.

The investigation found a "shocking breach of taxpayer privacy by tax prep companies and by Big Tech firms," according to the report.

Meta received income, deductions, exemptions and other personal and financial information used by taxpayers to prepare their taxes in H&R Block.

Those companies used Meta's Pixel code to improve marketing strategies targeted to website users.

The social media giant could then use the information to improve their own marketing efforts.

Not a concerning, massive, giant breach of data privacy at all!

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on "An Examination of Facebook and Its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors" in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on October 23, 2019. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

Meta Continues to Exert Tremendous Influence, With Little Concern Over Privacy

Just recently, new information revealed how significant Meta's hold over congress actually is.

READ: ‘FACEBOOK RECEIPTS’ PROJECT REVEAL META’S INFLUENCE OVER CONGRESS

The company issued a statement to the New York Post claiming they work to prevent this type of sensitive data sharing.

“Doing so is against our policies and we educate advertisers on properly setting up Business tools to prevent this from occurring,” the company said. “Our system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it is able to detect.”

Yet somehow they keep creating products and services that are privacy nightmares.

Threads, for example, has already been vociferously criticized for its data collection.

Social media and tech companies repeatedly claim to be concerned about their users privacy. Yet keep getting caught inappropriately accessing extremely sensitive information.

Threads has already set itself up as the kinder, more censorious competitor to Twitter. But underlying the platform's claims to be a more positive environment is how extreme Meta's data collection efforts actually are.

Many tech and social media companies view private customer information as currency, not something to be safeguarded and protected. All while claiming to be the good guys through support for preferred left wing political causes.

And as Wednesday's report shows, they get plenty of help.