Big Brother banking: How the Biden administration weaponized financial surveillance to target conservatives
By willowt // 2025-03-16
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  • The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed FOIA requests targeting the Biden administration’s alleged misuse of financial surveillance to monitor conservatives. The requests focus on potential collusion between federal agencies (Treasury, FBI, DHS) and private banks to flag transactions tied to political beliefs under the guise of combating “domestic extremism.”
  • A House Judiciary Committee report revealed that federal agencies encouraged banks to monitor transactions for keywords like “Trump,” “MAGA,” and purchases of religious texts or conservative media subscriptions, often without clear criminal justification.
  • The ADF and critics argue that this surveillance represents a dangerous overreach, threatening financial privacy and freedom of speech. The government’s ability to monitor transactions could suppress dissent and target individuals based on political or religious affiliations.
  • The ADF’s investigation highlights broader concerns about government collaboration with private entities (e.g., tech companies, banks) to suppress speech and monitor citizens, extending beyond financial surveillance to include online content moderation.
  • The ADF and lawmakers warn that unchecked surveillance sets a dangerous precedent, risking tyranny and the loss of fundamental freedoms. Immediate congressional action is urged to rein in federal overreach and protect citizens’ rights.
In a shocking revelation that underscores the growing concerns over government overreach, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests targeting the Biden administration’s alleged misuse of financial surveillance to target political opponents. The requests, directed at the Department of the Treasury, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seek to uncover how federal agencies may have colluded with private organizations and banks to monitor and flag the financial transactions of conservatives under the guise of combating “domestic extremism.” This latest development is not just another bureaucratic scandal—it’s a chilling reminder of how far the federal government has strayed from its constitutional limits. The ADF’s actions come on the heels of a damning interim report from the House Judiciary Committee, which exposed how the Biden administration weaponized the Bank Secrecy Act to spy on Americans. The implications are staggering: a government that once promised transparency and accountability has instead turned its surveillance apparatus inward, targeting its own citizens based on their political beliefs.

Collusion between Big Government and Big Banks

At the heart of the ADF’s FOIA requests is the alleged collaboration between federal agencies and private financial institutions to monitor transactions deemed “suspicious” or “extremist.” According to the House Judiciary Committee’s report, the FBI and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) encouraged banks to scour customer data for keywords like “Trump,” “MAGA,” and even purchases of religious texts or subscriptions to conservative news outlets. These transactions were then flagged for further investigation, often without any clear criminal nexus. “Americans should have a government that stands up for their constitutional rights,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler. “Regrettably, the Biden administration appears to have used its federal muscle to force private companies and banks to spy on Americans. Our country’s founding documents and decades of court precedent forbid such back-door bureaucratic espionage.” This isn’t just about financial privacy—it’s about the erosion of fundamental freedoms. The government’s ability to monitor and control financial transactions gives it unprecedented power to silence dissent. As the ADF’s legal counsel Mercer Martin noted, organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue have been complicit in this effort, creating blacklists of so-called “hate groups” and encouraging banks to target their customers based on political and religious affiliations.

Censorship-industrial complex

The ADF’s FOIA requests also shed light on the broader “censorship-industrial complex,” a term used to describe the collusion between government agencies and private entities to suppress speech and monitor citizens. In addition to financial surveillance, the ADF is seeking records of communications between the FBI and tech giants like Meta, Google and X (formerly Twitter) regarding keywords such as “disinformation,” “election integrity,” and “hate speech.” This isn’t the first time the federal government has been accused of outsourcing censorship to private companies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration faced criticism for pressuring social media platforms to remove content it deemed “misinformation.” Now, it appears the same playbook is being used to target financial transactions. The implications are dire. As the House Judiciary Committee’s report warns, the integration of new technologies like digital ID and artificial intelligence could soon allow the government to monitor every financial movement of every American. “All Americans should be disturbed by how their financial data is collected, made accessible to, and searched by federal and state officials,” the report states.

Dangerous precedent

The Biden administration’s alleged misuse of financial surveillance isn’t just a scandal—it’s a dangerous precedent that threatens the very foundation of American democracy. Historically, governments that have sought to monitor and control the financial activities of their citizens have done so to consolidate power and suppress dissent. From the Stasi in East Germany to the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups during the Obama administration, the pattern is clear: unchecked surveillance leads to tyranny. The ADF’s efforts to uncover the truth are a crucial step in holding the government accountable. But transparency alone is not enough. Congress must take immediate action to rein in the surveillance state and ensure that federal agencies are not abusing their power to target political opponents. As Sechler aptly put it, “Americans have a right to full transparency of illegal government action; our country should never police the activity of citizens simply because they hold differing political views than the party in power.” Sources include: RecliamTheNet.org ADFMedia.org Judiciary.House.gov
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