The news: Three major tax prep companies illegally shared taxpayers' sensitive financial data with tech giants Google and Meta for years, according to the results of a congressional investigation. The data was used for targeted advertising and to train Meta's AI algorithms. The details: A group of seven lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), presented their own findings in a report. They've called for potential criminal charges against the companies, citing violations of taxpayer privacy laws. The numbers: The lawmakers claim that the sensitive tax data of "tens of millions" of Americans was shared with the tech giants. Given that nearly half of American use tax software to file their taxes, this could very well be the case. The response: According to the report, the tax prep firms were "careless" with their treatment of taxpayer data and didn't understand the extent to which that data would be shared and used by the tech firms. Google and Meta placed the blame on the tax prep companies and asserted that their policies aim to prevent the collection of sensitive data.
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