Show-Me State Times

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - On July 13, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit against tax preparation companies H&R Block, Taxslayer LLC, and TaxAct, Inc. for illegally sharing the sensitive data of Missouri taxpayers with Meta, Google and other Big Tech companies. The lawsuit asserts that the three tax preparation companies violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act when they shared this sensitive personal and financial information with the Big Tech companies, which use the data for diverse advertising purposes, without customers’ consent.

Today, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit against tax preparation companies H&R Block, Taxslayer LLC, and TaxAct, Inc. for illegally sharing the sensitive data of Missouri taxpayers with Meta, Google and other Big Tech companies. The lawsuit asserts that the three tax preparation companies violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act when they shared this sensitive personal and financial information with the Big Tech companies, which use the data for diverse advertising purposes, without customers’ consent.

“I will always fight for Missouri consumers, especially when they’re being ripped off by major corporations who are selling Missourians’ personal information to social media companies without their consent,” said Attorney General Bailey. “If there’s anything we’ve discovered in our federal censorship lawsuit, it’s that these Big Tech companies do not have Americans’ best interests at heart. The last thing we need is for Big Tech giants to have access to personal information because these tax companies decided to evade the law. My office isn’t standing for it.”

Filed in St. Louis City, Attorney General Bailey’s lawsuit alleges that the companies unlawfully used a computer code – known as pixels – to send sensitive personal, financial, and tax return information to Meta, Google, and other entities despite explicitly promising not to share such information with third parties in their privacy policies.

For instance, through its implementation of the Meta Pixel and other tools, H&R Block, Taxslayer and TaxAct granted Meta access to the following information of millions of unwitting consumers:

1. names;
2. health savings account contributions;
3. college tuition grants, scholarships, and educational expenses;
4. whether the consumer visited pages related to dependents;
5. whether the consumer visited pages related to certain types of income (such as rental income or capital gains); and
6. whether the consumer visited pages related to certain tax credits or deductions

Attorney General Bailey’s petition asserts that the companies violated Missouri law through (1) misrepresentation, (2) omission, (3) deception, and (4) unfair business practices.
 
Attorney General Bailey seeks a preliminary injunction immediately halting the illegal behavior, full restitution to all affected Missouri consumers, and a civil penalty payable to the State.

The lawsuit can be found here: https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/tax-preparers-petition-compiled---final.pdf?sfvrsn=887b395e_2 

Original source can be found here.