These Tax Filing Websites Sent Financial Information To Facebook

A breaking report has revealed various tax filing websites have been sending users’ data to Facebook.

Users’ data from the tax filing websites were sent to Facebook by a code called Meta Pixel.

Some of the tax filing sites that were caught sending data to Facebook were TaxAct, H&R Block, and TaxSlayer

A report by Fox News stated “names, email addresses, filing status, refund amounts, dependents’ college scholarship amounts, and information related to users’ income.”

A blockbuster investigative report from @themarkup and The @Verge reveals that major tax-prep services illegally embedded the Facebook tracking pixel in their sites, configured so that it transmitted as much data as possible to the surveillance giant.https://t.co/uxf7wQshqc 3/

— Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr (@doctorow) November 22, 2022

NEW: Major tax filing companies, like H&R Block and TaxAct, have been sending your information to Facebook as you file your taxes online.

The penalties for disclosing data without consent could be steep. https://t.co/CHyIChwNrR

— The Markup (@themarkup) November 22, 2022

Fox News dropped these details:

Tax filing websites have reportedly been sending users’ financial information to Facebook.

According to a new report from The Markup, the data was shared through widely used code called the Meta Pixel.

The publication said it includes names, email addresses, filing status, refund amounts, dependents’ college scholarship amounts, and information related to users’ income.

The Markup said the information sent to the social media giant can be used by the company for advertising algorithms and is gathered whether or not the person using the tax filing service has an account on Facebook or another Meta platform.

Some of the most widely used e-filing services employ the Pixel, including TaxAct, H&R Block, and TaxSlayer.

Tax filing websites sent Facebook financial information: Report https://t.co/RGcse3h8WN pic.twitter.com/gBgEVugItS

— Tara Heath (@TaraMHeath) November 23, 2022

The Verge dropped these details:

NATIONAL POLL: Do You Trust Fox News?

ajor tax filing services such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have been quietly transmitting sensitive financial information to Facebook when Americans file their taxes online, The Markup has learned.

The data, sent through widely used code called the Meta Pixel, includes not only information like names and email addresses but often even more detailed information, including data on users’ income, filing status, refund amounts, and dependents’ college scholarship amounts.

This article was copublished with The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions are using technology to change our society. Sign up for its newsletters here.

The information sent to Facebook can be used by the company to power its advertising algorithms and is gathered regardless of whether the person using the tax filing service has an account on Facebook or other platforms operated by its owner Meta.

Each year, the Internal Revenue Service processes about 150 million individual returns filed electronically, and some of the most widely used e-filing services employ the pixel, The Markup found.