House GOP probes Eventbrite, GoFundMe over fed surveillance

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday demanded that Eventbrite and GoFundMe produce documents between the firms and federal agencies as part of a probe into Washington's surveillance of private transactions.

In writing to both firms, Jordan highlighted that the Judiciary panel and its weaponization subcommittee had discovered that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) had encouraged private financial institutions to review customer transactions using politically sensitive terms such as "Trump" and "MAGA" that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021.

He further noted discoveries that FinCEN listed Eventbrite and GoFundMe as crowdfunding sites used by Trump supporters to solicit funds for demonstrations on his behalf and informed financial firms on how to track those transactions.

"Despite these transactions having no apparent nexus to criminal activity—and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their First Amendment rights—FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors," Jordan wrote. "This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with federal law enforcement, without legal process, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious concerns about the federal government’s potential abuses of Americans’ fundamental civil liberties."

He then set a deadline of March 18 for the firms to provide documents and communications with FinCEN and other federal agencies as well as other relevant materials involvement government contact with the crowdfunding sites.

The Weaponization panel in January announced it had obtained materials showing that FinCEN had used terms like "MAGA" and "Trump" to flag transactions for financial institutions and that it would seek interviews with relevant personnel.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.