MAGA Under the Political Microscope
Alarming new reports reveal that the US Treasury asked banks to spy on customers’ spending habits based solely on search terms like “MAGA” and “Trump”.
Documents obtained from the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) show that banks and payment providers were encouraged to filter transactions for surveillance purposes and flag accounts displaying certain political ideologies.
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Specifically, FinCEN distributed “typologies” documents to financial institutions outlining suggested Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) that should raise red flags – including purchases related to firearms, survival goods, and political paraphernalia. Search terms like “MAGA”, “Stop the Steal”, and references to former President Trump were also provided to banks to monitor customers’ transactions.
The goal was ostensibly to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot, but FinCEN appears to have overreached by characterizing ordinary citizens as potential threats solely due to their political beliefs. None of the flagged transactions showed any apparent criminal intent on their own.
Financial privacy experts warn that this level of ideological profiling sets a dangerous precedent for government overreach into citizens’ private lives and spending habits. By coordinating surveillance efforts with major banks, law enforcement now has unprecedented insight into peoples’ personal details, interests, donations and more – all without reasonable suspicion of any wrongdoing.
As banking customers ourselves, we have to ask: is it acceptable for our financial data to be scrutinized based on nothing more than a few search terms or interests? And what’s to stop this intrusive monitoring from expanding to target other political or social ideologies in the future?
Where is our country headed and can anything be done about? A questions that must be answered only be We The People.
Our representatives in government must demand transparency and put protections in place to prevent this kind of privacy overreach. Our financial decisions should not be used to cast unjustified suspicion on innocent Americans solely due to their political views. The implications could be incredibly damaging if left unchecked.
Let your voice be heard or forever be silent.
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