There is no peace for Meta: after discovering malware that targets Facebook users, today comes the news that the Menlo Park colossus has been sued on charges of having collected the financial data of some users through US tax filing web services.
To end up in the eye of the storm were the H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer services, all web applications that allow American citizens to calculate from year to year how much they owe to the tax authorities for taxes and other taxes. In the past few months, an investigation by Mark up revealed that just Meta would collect, via the system tracking Pixels, i fiscal data of the users of these servicesobviously with the connivance of their managers.
Pixel is a piece of code that anyone can place on their website for trace the activity of those who visit it, also inserting “targeted” advertisements for the user, especially if the latter was on Facebook or Instagram before opening the web page connected to Pixel. The tools it is used by many websites, but becomes particularly delicate on those pages that require the insertion of strictly personal data, such as those relating to the compilation of taxes.
For example, the three services already mentioned have been accused of transmitted to Meta personal and financial information of users who have used them: among these data we find income and wages, approval or disapproval of their tax calculation, any refunds and all benefits social or scholastic benefits received in the previous year.
Fortunately, it appears that the three services, following Markup’s investigation, have stopped using Pixel for your own advertisements. At the same time, Meta explained to Engadget that I have never collected sensitive data through the tools advertising, and that such data would be automatically filtered and removed from the latter. However, it seems that the legal action, brought forward by some anonymous taxpayers, has not stopped: on the contrary, the plaintiffs have confirmed that they are interested in turn it into one class-actiongathering as many adhesions as possible.
