Staff Reports
Well, well, well, what do we have here? It seems that Facebook and Google have been getting up to their old tricks again. But this time, they’ve gone a step further and gotten their hands on your precious tax information. That’s right, folks, they’re not content with just collecting your personal data, now they want to know exactly how much money you’re making and how much you owe in taxes. And the worst part? They’re not sorry about it.
Facebook and Google Got Your Tax Info and They're Not Sorry https://t.co/JMc8paemrK
— RedState (@RedState) July 16, 2023
According to a report from a group of lawmakers, H&R Block and other tax prep companies have been sharing sensitive personal and financial data from millions of customers with Meta and Google. And who are these lawmakers, you ask? Oh, just the usual suspects—Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. You know, the ones who always seem to have a problem with successful companies and the free market. But I digress.
What kind of sensitive information are we talking about here? Oh, just your name, filing status, income, refund amount, the names of your dependents, and even the amount of federal tax you owe. No big deal, right? Wrong! This is a serious violation of taxpayer privacy and a clear breach of trust. But of course, Meta and Google are playing it cool and acting like they’ve done nothing wrong. They claim that it’s the tax prep companies’ fault for not following their policies. Well, excuse me if I’m not buying it.
And let’s not forget about the IRS in all of this. They’re supposed to be the ones protecting our tax information, but they’ve had their fair share of data breaches and untrustworthiness. Remember when they accidentally made public data for 120,000 taxpayers? Or when they released 112,000 taxpayers’ private data again? Yeah, not exactly confidence-inspiring, is it?
But wait, there’s more! The lawmakers behind this report are also praising the IRS for their upcoming “free” electronic filing system. Oh, how generous of them to offer us a supposedly free option. But let’s not forget that the IRS has its own track record of incompetence and wrongdoing. Do we really want to trust them with even more of our personal information?
It’s clear that Facebook, Google, and the tax prep companies are all in cahoots, using our data for their own gain. And the politicians who claim to be fighting for our privacy? Well, they’re just using this as an opportunity to push their own agenda and expand the power of the government. It’s a classic case of big tech and big government working together to strip away our freedoms.
So what can we do about it? Well, for starters, we need to demand more accountability from these companies and the lawmakers who are supposed to be representing us. We shouldn’t just accept their excuses and shrugs. We deserve better than that. And maybe, just maybe, it’s time for us to take a closer look at our tax system and how our personal information is being handled. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned from this whole debacle, it’s that our privacy is under attack—and Facebook and Google are leading the charge.
