U.S. IRS launches security review after threats, misinformation on social media

A security camera hangs near a corner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is reviewing safety and security measures in response to an “abundance” of threats and misinformation on social media about the agency and its employees, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a staff memo released on Tuesday.

Rettig said the steps include new risk assessments, monitoring perimeter security at facilities, designating restricted areas and reassessing exterior lighting and entrance security. The actions follow “an abundance of misinformation and false social media postings, some of them with threats directed at the IRS and its employees,” he said.

Last week, President Joe Biden signed into law a sweeping climate, drugs and tax package that provides the IRS with $80 billion in new funding to beef up compliance and service over the next decade. The provision has prompted Republicans to claim that the IRS is hiring an “army” of 87,000 new agents to police tax collections. read more

Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Jonathan Oatis

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