Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the UK equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service, has for the first time confirmed it has been using artificial intelligence to monitor social media activity in certain tax-related investigations, a revelation that intensifies concerns over how far the government is prepared to go in digitally surveilling the public.
The department says this surveillance capability is used only in criminal probes and insists that its actions are legally justified and subject to oversight.
But while HMRC claims safeguards are in place, the quiet deployment of these tools over several years raises fresh alarms about unchecked data use and the creeping automation of law enforcement functions.
The disclosure arrives at a time when the government is accelerating its reliance on AI across multiple departments. Inside HMRC, AI systems are being woven into routine operations, not just to monitor for fraud but also to automate correspondence, review tax filings, and deliver warnings when suspicious patterns are detected.
One quietly withdrawn statement from HMRC’s previous privacy policy explicitly stated that “HMRC’s use of AI does not replace human judgement when collecting taxes or determining benefits.”
That language is no longer present. The updated version offers a more qualified assurance, noting that when AI might influence customer outcomes, human oversight remains, and outcomes must be “explainable.”
A spokesperson for HMRC stated: “Use of AI for social media monitoring is restricted to criminal investigations and subject to legal oversight. AI supports our processes but – like all effective use of this new technology – it has robust safeguards in place and does not replace human decision-making.”
The department says AI tools are aimed at reducing bureaucratic tasks so staff can focus more on supporting taxpayers and targeting fraud. Still, the quiet expansion of these systems has already prompted a wave of resistance from those who fear the consequences of allowing software to police the population’s financial lives.
