U.S. Democrats are investigating Meta for including its data center construction in tax credits.

According to a Politico report, a U.S. Senate Democratic tax lawmaker said Wednesday that Meta may have abused a common corporate tax incentive, and demanded the company detail why it claimed research and development (R&D) tax credits while building data centers. Lawmakers are seeking to confirm whether Meta—owner of Facebook and Instagram—improperly claimed this tax break. The policy was originally designed to support research and experimental technologies, not to subsidize routine business spending. The joint letter follows a New York Times report that Meta used these credits to slash its tax bill by billions of dollars. Ron Wyden, the top Democratic senator on the Senate Finance Committee from Oregon, and six other Democratic members of the committee wrote to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg: “The federal R&D tax credit is an effective, necessary tool to support America’s innovation economy and cutting-edge research, but subsidizing your artificial intelligence (AI) data center construction clearly does not meet that standard.” Lawmakers added: “If Meta attempts to qualify its AI data center expansion projects for the R&D tax credit, this could constitute a significant improper application of federal tax law, warranting further investigation.” The letter was signed by Wyden and six other Senate Finance Committee Democrats. One signatory, Vermont Senator Peter Welch, also wrote to IRS Commissioner Frank Bisignano last week, requesting the tax agency provide information on how Meta and other large tech firms use research and experimentation (R&E) tax credits.