A heated debate erupted on GB News after revelations that HMRC employs artificial intelligence to monitor taxpayers' social media accounts, with panellist Dr Renée Hoenderkamp branding the practice "a disgrace".

The tax authority has acknowledged for the first time that it scrutinises online posts to identify potential tax evasion, examining whether people's lifestyles match their declared income.

In a heated rant, Dr Hoenderkamp said: "It doesn’t surprise me, but I think this is just another step down the slippery slope to a world where nothing we do is of our own free will.

Dr Renée Hoenderkamp branded the practise a 'disgrace'

"It’s invasive. It’s invading our privacy. What they’re going to do is spy on people’s social media, and if you’ve submitted your tax return and then go on holiday to the Maldives and they decide that doesn’t fit with your declared income they’re going to give you a nudge.

"They’re calling it a 'nudge' to ask whether you should be paying more tax. It’s a disgrace."

However, GB News host Miriam Cates pointed out that an issue could be the amount that people "overshare on social media" and political commentator Nigel Nelson agreed.

He said: "Exactly, and this is the point. That’s why I’m in favour of it: if you’re silly enough to post on social media that you earn £20,000 a year but boast about buying a £10million house, I think the taxman has every right to say, ang on, that doesn’t seem to add up.”

"But they could do that anyway without using AI to spy on you. Well, yes, but AI can do it quicker.

"If you had an individual going through everyone’s social media, it wouldn’t work but AI could pick up those things and then they could make checks.

"In fact, they say they’re only using it for criminal prosecutions at the moment. Still, I wouldn’t mind if this was expanded it seems sensible to me that they would check social media to see what people are doing."

This enraged Dr Hoenderkamp who fired back: "That’s just nonsense, Nigel. You know it’s nonsense, because if you declare something on social media, it’s already public."

She added: "I just think we should be focusing more on the people who are not paying tax, because the people who are paying tax in this country at the moment are funding the lifestyles of almost everybody else.

"So instead of keep hammering the people that are already paying tax, let's hammer the people who are not paying tax."

Nigel Nelson said he 'has no problem with it'

Miriam agreed: "This does all sound very sinister. I admit."

An HMRC spokesperson maintained that social media surveillance remains limited to criminal investigations, with "robust safeguards in place" and legal oversight governing its use.

The technology has reportedly been operational for several years, working alongside the Connect system - a decade-old IT infrastructure that analyses billions of data points to detect potential tax evasion.