Meta Pixel Collects Massive Amounts Of Information
August 2, 2023—Several tax-preparation companies used a computer code known as pixels to share millions of data about users with Meta and Google, according to a congressional investigation.
The companies TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and H&R Block confirmed to Senate investigators that they used Meta Pixel on their websites and a similar code for Google Analytics.
The Meta Pixel is a piece of code used to track website visitors and their actions offsite. According to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, it is used for advertising and ad-targeting purposes. But the congressional report reveals that pixels contain “massive amounts of user data.”
Data Shared
The report indicates that taxpayers who used the company websites to file their taxes may have unwittingly shared information such as names, email addresses, income, filing status, refund amounts, and dependents’ information with Meta.
Congressional Investigation
Several Capitol Hill offices collaborated on the investigation. They include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Buckworth, Bernie Sanders, and Sheldon Whitehouse, and Rep. Katie Porter.
They produced a report, Attacks on Tax Privacy: How the Tax Prep Industry Enabled Meta to Harvest Millions of Taxpayers’ Sensitive Data. The report says the tax prep firms were “shockingly careless with their treatment” of data and might have violated taxpayer privacy laws.
Their investigation followed news about the privacy breach first reported in 2022 by a nonprofit journalism group called The Markup.
A Warning on Pixel Tracking And Health Data
The Federal Trade Commission warns that data collection through pixel tracking carries a high risk for personal data.
“With pixels, any type of personal and identifying information can be collected and shared,” the FTC Technology blog said. “In fact, information collected from a pixel can be used to identify social media profiles through matching information such as a user’s email address that automatically connects a user to their social media account on the platform if they have one.”
In March, the FTC issued a warning about GoodRx and BetterHelp, saying the health-related companies might have shared sensitive data about website visitors. That followed enforcement action by the commission against the two companies for “unauthorized disclosure of consumer health data to Facebook, Google, and other companies.”
Meta Retains Data
The congressional report on the tax prep companies focused more on Meta, which it said retains the data it collects. Google appears to use the data it collects “in a more limited way.” Meta, meanwhile, gives marketing partners “deep insights into their user’s activities,” including giving them ability to track visitors’ actions.
Significantly, the investigators found that the data collected was not anonymous.
According to the congressional report, Meta confirmed it used the information to target ads and to train its AI algorithms.
The senators and congresswoman called for an immediate investigation by the Justice Department, IRS, FTC, and Treasury’s Inspector General.
