Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter (aka Mr. Gold) has been sounding the alarm of the profound risk in the financial system.  

At the beginning of December, Mr. Gold warned about the record setting silver prices and said, “It’s pretty clear and pretty obvious that something behind the scenes is breaking.”

What is “breaking” is the extremely leveraged futures markets with not enough physical silver to deliver.  

Fast forward to the end of the month, and new record highs in gold and silver are happening every day.  Mr. Gold says,

“They are gobbling up all the supply available because they understand this is the end of the fiat currency experiment that started August 15 of 1971.  Fiats are collapsing. 

This is the Hunt brothers on steroids because you have the entire world buying physical.  The Hunt brothers got into trouble because they were buying paper contracts, and COMEX changed the rules.  COMEX can change any rules they want . . . it won’t matter because the rest of the world is buying cash and carry . . . they will not accept paper contracts.  They want real physical metal.”

Here is where it gets both interesting and dangerous.  What happens if the short sellers cannot deliver the silver promised?  Mr. Gold says,

“People say if they can’t deliver, and I am going to tell you at some point they will not be able to deliver, when that moment happens, it’s game over for the entire financial system.  Silver, and I believe it will be silver that fails to deliver, silver is the blasting cap to the gold nuclear bomb.  When silver fails to deliver, then immediately there will be a pile into COMEX gold, and they will not be able to deliver the gold.  Once that happens, you have failures of contracts that are proven fraudulent.  They are zeroed out and cannot perform.  Then it spreads to cattle, pork bellies, grains and you name it.  This is not to mention the financials of stocks and bonds.  Once you prove fraud in silver, that’s going to spread to all the derivatives, and we will have a derivative meltdown. . .. The world wants gold and silver because those are the only two monies that cannot default.”

What you are seeing in the gold and silver markets now is far from a top.  This is just getting started.  Mr. Gold says,

“These contracts are a zero-sum game.  There is a winner and a loser.  If the loser loses so big that they go belly up, then the winner becomes a loser because they can’t get paid.  That is the problem. . .. When this actually hits and there is a failure to deliver, gold and silver will be wiped off the shelves, and there will be none to be bought. . .. This will be a run for safety, and fear is the greatest emotion there is.  Fear is a far greater emotion than greed. . .. This is going to turn into a reverse bank run into gold and into silver because they cannot default in a world that is defaulting. . ..  What you are witnessing is the end of trust.  When you have the end of trust, the confidence breaks and credit is forthcoming only when there is trust.  Once confidence breaks, the credit markets will begin to seize up. . .. When credit stops, it’s game over.  You will see markets, institutions and stores shutter.”

Holter says you should be able to be self-sufficient for a while when the system shuts down.  Storing up food and water is a good place to start.

In closing, Holter says, “This is the finale of the great financial reset.  Make no mistake, what you are watching is the world resetting before your very eyes.”

There is much more in the 43-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog as he goes One-on-One with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter/Mr. Gold as the financial system begins its reset for 12.23.25.

Remember earlier this year when President Trump was locked in a tit-for-tat trade war with China? Then, a broad coalition of Democrats, corporate media outlets, mainstream economists, and left-leaning think tanks warned that higher tariffs would spark pandemic-era supply-chain chaos and trigger price spikes for consumers. Two quarters later, those dire predictions have yet to materialize.

MSM propagandists sounded the apocalypse alarm:

• March: KOMO News: ‘It’s worse than COVID’: Point Roberts seeks state aid amid US-Canada tariff crisis

• April: NBC News: Product shortages and empty store shelves loom with falling shipments from China

• April: Fortune: Tariffs threaten a pharmaceuticals shortage, as 95% of ibuprofen comes from China

• April: CNBC: The trade war’s wave of retail shortages will hit U.S. consumers in stages.

• April: Axios: How Trump tariffs could cause a global recession

• April: Vox: America may be headed for this rare type of economic crisis

• April: CNN: Trump took the US economy to the brink of a crisis in just 100 days

• May: The Guardian: Trump’s tariffs: ‘It feels like Covid 2.0. So many things are getting disrupted’

• May: Business Insider: The worst is yet to come: Trump’s tariffs could mean even higher prices and empty shelves within weeks

Democratic Party and MSM’s supply-chain apocalypse alarm peaked in mid-April, then resurfaced in a smaller echo wave by August, according to Bloomberg data tracking mainstream media headline counts for the term “tariff.”

However, there is only so much economic doom the MSM can push in a propaganda campaign built on a shaky foundation, because none of the predictions above have come remotely true eight months later.

In fact, quite the opposite. The latest PCE data (September) shows no signs at all of the runaway tariff-driven costs that so many establishment economists proclaimed were imminent…

On the supply-chain front, Goldman analysts led by Jordan Alliger published the latest Supply Chain Congestion Index, showing that no bottlenecks have materialized since Trump decided on trade war 2.0 with China. The surge in congestion seen in 2021 and 2022 was driven by Covid-era disruptions, when governments shut down large parts of their economies.

As for the Democratic Party’s dire prediction of an “actively tanking economy” – have you seen the third-quarter print?

• Q3 GDP Unexpectedly Surges To 2 Year High On Soaring Health Insurance Spending

And it is no surprise that trust in the mainstream media has collapsed to record lows. For 16 years, ZeroHedge readers have understood that the MSM is little more than a propagandist and PR arm for whoever happens to be the highest bidder.

Update (1518ET):

Hours after the U.S. Christmas Day strikes on ISIS-linked targets in Nigeria, Nigerian officials signaled openness to continued American military involvement to counter what President Trump called “terrorist scum.” The new campaign follows attacks in which radical Islamists had killed Christians.

“I believe this is an ongoing thing and we’re working with the US,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told Channels Television on Friday. “It’s a new phase of an old conflict.”

Tuggar said Nigeria provided intelligence to the U.S. for the strikes. He noted that he was actively speaking with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

It was Nigeria that provided intelligence for the US strike in Nigeria. We spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio twice: once 19 minutes before the strike and another time 5 minutes before it went on.

– Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs. pic.twitter.com/P7ywtoCY9S

— Imran Muhammad (@Imranmuhdz) December 26, 2025

While the Pentagon has not formally announced additional operations in Nigeria, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X earlier that there was “more to come.”

*   *   * 

President Trump telegraphed the move last month, warning that U.S. military intervention in West Africa was certaintly on the table after what he described as the mass killing of Christians by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria. Now, the president says the U.S. military forces carried out powerful strikes against ISIS targets, framing the operation as a direct response to militants “viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.”

“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Christmas Day.

Trump continued, “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”

“The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper,” the president declared.

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), the U.S. military’s unified combatant command responsible for operations and security cooperation across Africa, said on X that, acting at the direction of Trump and the Secretary of War and in coordination with Nigerian officials, it carried out strikes against ISIS terrorists in Nigeria on Christmas Day, in Sokoto State.

At the direction of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, and in coordination with Nigerian authorities, U.S. Africa Command conducted strikes against ISIS terrorists in Nigeria on Dec. 25, 2025, in Sokoto State.

— U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) (@USAfricaCommand) December 26, 2025

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X that Trump was very clear last month: “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end,” adding, “The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come…”

The President was clear last month: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end.

The @DeptofWar is always ready, so ISIS found out tonight — on Christmas. More to come…

Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation.

Merry Christmas! https://t.co/k5Q3Qd4ClE

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) December 25, 2025

As we’ve previously reported, Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria…

• Trump Threatens U.S. Military Action In Nigeria Over ‘Killing Of Christians’

• Nigeria’s Christians Are Caught in A Tide Of Jihadi Violence

It seems Nicki Minaj has become the spokeswoman to address the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and around the world.

Nicki Minaj uses her voice at TPUSA to put a spotlight on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and around the world 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/ohy7GysE60

— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) December 21, 2025

The energy market reaction was muted during the thin holiday trading, with Brent crude prices flat despite Nigeria’s status as an OPEC member.

Trump has previously designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over religious freedom, a label rejected by Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has faced growing ISIS pressure in the northeast.

The strike against ISIS fits into a broader pattern of Trump using military force abroad, including recent large-scale airstrikes in Syria and Iran and gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean to accelerate regime instability in Venezuela.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

What is the next worst thing to being arrested for DUI just before Christmas with a viral video of you berating an officer? Being confused with that person by irate citizens because you share the same name, Maria Bucci. It is particularly unwelcome when you are a substance abuse counselor.

On December 18, Maria Bucci, a 51-year-old Rhode Island political figure, was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving by an officer in East Greenwich. The Chairwoman of the Democratic Committee in Cranston is shown on the police bodycam video invoking her special or influential status: “You know who I am right?”

The Cranston Herald reported Bucci is a former Cranston mayoral candidate who previously served on the City Council and made an unsuccessful bid for the Rhode Island House of Representatives last year.

The officer responds by saying, “I don’t know who you are, miss. You can start throwing out names and start doing out what you need to do, it’s not going to work with me, I’m telling you right now, I’m not the guy for that.”

That only seemed to set Bucci off, who then abused the officer. The most ironic statement was the following:

“Call my husband right now, and call the attorney general and everybody else in town, cause this is disgusting, God forbid I was a Black person, I’d be arrested.”

So, after invoking a special privilege or status, Bucci attacked the officer as presumptively racist for not arresting white people for crimes that Black people are arrested for.

He then arrested her for a misdemeanor as she declared, “You’re a d**k … Like I am not drinking, you’re a loser.”

If she were drunk, it would seem a case of in vino veritas, or “in wine there is truth.” The immediate response of this politician is to reveal a deep dislike of police officers and her view of officers as inherently racist.

Bucci will have to deal with the consequences, but it should be the right Bucci. While the real Bucci asked “You know who I am, right?” some appear to have done little to answer in the affirmative before going on the attack.

The problem is that East Greenwich has a second Maria Bucci, who is also a substance abuse counselor. She was apparently deluged by trolling and angry citizens.

The “other” Maria Bucci is also from Cranston but works in East Greenwich. She is 61 years old and was surprised to find herself taking the heat for someone else over the holiday.

It was bad enough that East Greenwich News ran a story to ask people to stop harassing the poor woman, noting that the newspaper:

“typically doesn’t use names when people who get arrested unless there is a public service aspect. We did not consider Bucci’s arrest rose to that level but we are writing about it now to clarify that the Maria Bucci who works for the Town of East Greenwich is not the same Maria Bucci arrested by EGPD Dec. 18 (here is that arrest report: 25-251-AR).”

Legally, the “other” Maria Bucci could sue for a publication that falsely claims she was responsible for this viral encounter. (So far, no news organizations have committed that error). However, such litigation is expensive and trolls are notoriously difficult to track down. That leaves Maria Bucci in the unfortunate class of others who share names with notorious figures, as Dr. Jeffrey Epstein recently learned after a bizarre shoutout from ep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Indeed, even spelling “Madoff” with one “f” does not help when you are scooped up in the sensation of a crime.

Bucci is clearly not on the same level as an Epstein or a Madoff. This is, after all, a still unproven misdemeanor. However, in the community of Cranston, Rhode Island (pop. 84,934), it is hard to shake a viral story with your name. The greatest penalty likely to befall the real Maria Bucci is the reputational damage, which should not be shared with that “other” Maria Bucci.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer declared this week, “The walls are caving in on Tim Walz,” as a federal probe into Minnesota’s sprawling fraud scandal intensifies. Whistleblowers, mayors, and lawmakers now enter the fray, spotlighting waste in social programs that hammer everyday residents. 

The fraud Comer described reaches far beyond accounting errors. Minnesota taxpayers now must endure cuts to basic services because billions of dollars earmarked for social programs vanished due to fraudulent schemes, most of which are tied to the state’s Somali community. The scale of the fraud has forced state officials to slash budgets and shift costs to local governments, leaving mayors across Minnesota scrambling to maintain essential services like police protection, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency response without bankrupting residents through property tax hikes.

The House Oversight Committee is coordinating with federal agencies and preparing subpoenas for records and testimony to trace the money and identify the culprits. 

Comer stopped short of demanding Walz resign but made it clear that the governor cannot escape accountability. “He deserves due process, and we’re going to give him due process,” Comer said.

Walz, of course, isn’t happy about the federal investigations and insists he can 

“This [was] on my watch,” Walz said last week. “I am accountable for this, and more importantly, I am the one that will fix it.”

Walz added, “Unlike the president, I’m governor now [and] whether these programs happen before we got here or afterwards, it doesn’t matter. We’re here now. We’re the ones fixing it. You have my guarantee on this, that I certainly will have this thing fixed.”

A Walz spokesperson dismissed the congressional probe as partisan theater designed to muzzle a vocal Trump critic. “This is clearly a coordinated political attack to try to silence one of the President’s most effective critics,” the spokesperson stated. “The Governor takes fraud seriously and wishes they would too.”

Comer, however, dismissed Walz’s suggestion that the Oversight Committee should step aside and let him investigate the fraud. “No one in America believes that. We are going to investigate this,” Comer said.

The scandal traces back to at least 2020 and involves fraudulent billing across numerous government programs, concentrated heavily but not exclusively within the Somali population. Federal prosecutors revealed that the Feeding Our Future case alone, which already resulted in charges against nearly 80 people, involved roughly $250 million in bogus claims for pandemic nutrition aid. Last week, prosecutors revealed the total fraud across Minnesota’s social services system could reach $9 billion or more.

Comer emphasized that successful congressional investigations depend on insiders willing to break ranks, and he now has them. “The key to a good congressional investigation is having whistleblowers. And, fortunately for us, we have some state employees who have bravely stepped forward. We’re going to get them under oath, and they’re going to tell us everything they know. And we’re going to go from there.”

The revolt against Walz extends beyond Washington. Nearly 100 Minnesota mayors delivered a stinging rebuke Monday in a letter to Walz and state legislative leaders, blaming fraud, reckless spending, and erratic fiscal management in St. Paul for crippling their cities. “Fraud, unchecked spending, and inconsistent fiscal management in St. Paul have trickled down to our cities,” the mayors wrote. “Our state owes it to our citizens to practice responsible fiscal management and to stop taxing our families, seniors, and businesses out of Minnesota.”

The mayors also pointed to Minnesota’s declining position in national economic rankings over the past six years, echoing a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report that described the state’s trajectory as a wake-up call. Once boasting an $18 billion surplus under Walz’s watch, Minnesota now faces a projected $3 billion deficit for the 2028-29 budget cycle. This means that the mayors are now being forced to raise taxes, cut services, delay infrastructure projects, or stretch municipal employees even thinner.

With subpoenas imminent and state employees preparing to testify under oath, Walz is staring down a political reckoning that could permanently end his career. The investigation is tightening, the facts are coming to light, and the collapse of trust alone may prove impossible to overcome.

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The weekly mortgage rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.18 percent for the week ending Dec. 24 as the housing market continues to lean in favor of buyers.

The 6.18 percent rate is the lowest level since 2022 and a slight decline from 6.21 percent the previous week, according to Freddie Mac data. The current rate is 0.86 percentage points below the yearly peak of 7.04 percent reached in mid-January.

The recent rate decline comes as the U.S. housing market registered 37.2 percent more sellers than buyers in November, real estate brokerage Redfin said in a statement on Dec. 23.

“That’s the largest gap in records dating back to 2013 aside from this summer. It compares with 35.6 percent a month earlier and 17 percent a year earlier,” the brokerage said.

“Redfin defines a market with over 10 percent more sellers than buyers as a buyer’s market. By this definition, it has been a buyer’s market since May 2024.”

The 37.2 percent gap translates into 529,770 more sellers in the market.

Among the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan regions, Austin, Texas, was the strongest buyer’s market last month, with 114 percent more sellers than buyers, according to Redfin.

This was followed by San Antonio, Texas; Nashville; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, each of which had sellers outnumbering buyers by more than 100 percent.

Out of the 50 metros, 36 were buyer’s markets, seven were balanced, and the remaining seven were seller’s markets.

The number of home buyers hit the second-lowest level on record in November, as many backed off amid economic uncertainty and high housing costs, the statement said.

“A modest improvement in housing affordability could bring some homebuyers off the sidelines in 2026, which could narrow the gap between homebuyers and sellers,” Redfin senior economist Asad Khan said.

“But the housing market is likely to remain in buyer’s market territory for the foreseeable future, with sellers cutting prices or offering concessions to lure buyers.”

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes inched higher this month despite businesses facing challenges such as rising construction costs, economic uncertainty, and buyer hesitation, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said in a Dec. 15 statement.

“In positive signs for the market, builders report that future sales expectations have been above the key breakeven level of 50 for the past three months, and the recent easing of monetary policy should help builder loan conditions at the start of 2026,” NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz said.

The Federal Reserve has cut its benchmark interest rates three times this year, pushing it down to a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent.

In a Dec. 11 commentary, Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at real estate data company Bright MLS, suggested that even if mortgage rates were to decline further, other concerns are weighing on prospective buyers’ minds.

On the positive side, Sturtevant expects mortgage rates to fall further.

“Expect mortgage rates to ease somewhat in 2026, though Bright MLS forecasts are for rates to remain above 6 percent through the end of next year,” she wrote.

“Slightly lower rates and slower price growth should improve affordability a little, which could bring more buyers into the market.”

President Donald Trump has vowed to lower mortgage costs.

“I will announce some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history,” he said during a televised address on Dec. 17.

Trump said he plans to announce a new Federal Reserve chairman who will support lower interest rates, which will trigger further decline in mortgage rates.

He suggested that illegal immigration under the Biden administration contributed significantly to housing costs.

“Over 60 percent of growth in the rental market came from foreign migrants,” the president said. “For the first time in 50 years, we are now seeing reverse migration as migrants go back home, leaving more housing and more jobs for Americans.”

On Western Christmas, December 25, Russian nuclear-capable bombers conducted a “scheduled” flight over waters in the Arctic region, specifically in neutral waters of the Norwegian and Barents Seas. This prompted “fighter jets of foreign countries” to escort them and mirror them from afar, Russia’s defense ministry has confirmed.

While the country origins of the Western aircraft which responded remain unclear, the Kremlin had notified NATO in advance of the somewhat routine flight path. The bodies of water in question lie north of Scandinavia and northwest of Russia, which is quite far from the UK, and yet British media did what they do best: exaggerate and hype Russian nuclear bombers being “sent” by Putin “to the UK”…and on Christmas!

And never mind the fact that for Russia and its Orthodox Church, it is not Christmas. Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7, according the Julian calendar ecclesiastical dating system.

These bodies of water lie far away from Britain, and is a standard flight path for Russia’s military. “At certain stages of the route, long-range bombers were escorted by fighter jets of foreign countries,” the Russian defense ministry disclosed.

The ministry further said that such flights “regularly take place in many regions and are in accordance with international law.”

Highlighting that these bombers were not at all ‘sent’ to the UK, one political commentator says as follows:

British media outlets like the Mirror and The Sun have reported that Russian nuclear-capable bombers flew a long-range patrol over the Norwegian Sea on Christmas Day Dec 25, 2025. Which was described as a deliberate act close to the notional “Santa Claus flight path”. NATO warplanes were scrambled to monitor the aircraft.

This is how the media spinned it! When it was two Russian Tu-95MS long-range bombers known as “Bears” that conducted a scheduled routine, seven-hour flight over “neutral waters” in the Barents and Norwegian Seas. The media made it sound like they were threatening NATO. When NATO was informed by the Russians the path that was taken.

The distant, far northern body of water in question…

Similar Russian bomber flights have recently occurred over the Sea of Japan, and in coordination with China’s military in the East China Sea, and such flight paths have even lately traversed the Black Sea.

Given the Ukraine proxy war is about to reach its fourth year, we are indeed living in dangerous times, but the situation is not helped when European press endlessly fearmongers and exaggerates. Of course, this is stoked by defense officials in London and Brussels, who keep pushing for bigger defense budgets, and for taxpayers to keep on funding Ukraine. 

NATO apparently wanted young British boys and girls to know that its warplanes are keeping European skies safe from the ‘Russian aggressor’… 

Poland said it scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to intercept a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying near its airspace over the Baltic Sea, and reported that dozens of objects crossed into the country from Belarus overnight, with some officials saying these are intentional provocations timed during a holiday period.

The Polish military said that jets intercepted, visually identified and escorted the Russian surveillance plane away from their area of responsibility while it was flying over international waters close to Poland’s airspace.

It said in reference to both the aircraft activity and large balloon incursions from Belarus, “the mass nature of the violation of Polish airspace, its occurrence during the special holiday season, the assessment of the Russian aircraft’s activity in the ‌Baltic Sea, and the fact that similar incidents have recently occurred in Lithuania, may indicate that this was a provocation disguised as ​a smuggling operation.”

NATO countries along the alliance’s eastern flank remain on heightened alert after a series of provocative airspace incidents, including an episode in September when three Russian military aircraft entered Estonian airspace for over ten, shortly after more than 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland.

For another example, Lithuania has previously alleged that smuggler balloons originating from Belarus have repeatedly disrupted air traffic, at times forcing the closure of Vilnius airport.

Lithuanian officials claim that the balloons, which are used to transport cigarettes or other non-taxed contraband, amount to a form of “hybrid attack” by Belarus, a close ally and ‘Union State’ with Russia. However, the Lukashenko government has firmly denied any involvement.

The Polish military has said that as a result of the latest incidents, airspace over parts of the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland, which borders Belarus, was temporarily closed to civilian flights as a security precaution.

These Eastern European and Baltic countries are trying to coordinate their responses and present a united NATO front. According to Fox, “Polish authorities said the response included support from NATO allies, with Spanish aircraft assisting in air policing and Dutch forces providing air defense systems support.”

Some reports have tallied that Russian aircraft or drones have breached eastern European airspace well over a dozen times at this point, since the Ukraine war began.

According to Business Insider, the company Atreyd has sent a “drone wall” to Ukraine for testing, designed to intercept Shaheds and KABs. Thanks to AI, a single operator can control a hundred drones simultaneously. Production is already established in France and Ukraine, and the… pic.twitter.com/jyo9PXQpXT

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) November 12, 2025

NATO and the European Union have lately said they are working on plans for a ‘drone wall’ for collective defense along the eastern flank, with an eye on the ‘Russian threat’ facing European skies.

Authored by Catherine Yang via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge granted a temporary injunction on Dec. 25 to block the Trump administration from detaining and deporting Imran Ahmed, an activist among those recently subjected to visa restrictions by the State Department for alleged censorship.

Ahmed, CEO of U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is a British citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the visa bans on Dec. 23 while condemning the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), naming several former EU officials, as well as prominent activists who had a part in formulating the DSA.

The announcement followed the EU opening formal proceedings against X under the DSA, alleging “dissemination of illegal content.” U.S. officials decried the move as censorship.

Ahmed sued on Dec. 24 in a bid to stop deportation proceedings, naming Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons, acting Field Office Director of the New York ICE office Judith Almodovar, and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers in the complaint.

Rogers had accused Ahmed of collaborating “with the Biden Administration’s effort to weaponize the government against U.S. citizens” in a social media post on Dec. 23, writing that his organization published the “infamous ‘disinformation dozen’ report” that spurred a campaign to de-platform those questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Leaked documents from CCDH show the organization listed ‘kill Musk’s Twitter,’ and ’trigger EU and UK regulatory action’ as priorities,” Rogers wrote.

“The organization supports the UK’s Online Safety Act and EU’s Digital Services Act to expand censorship in Europe and around the world.”

Ahmed argued in his complaint that the sanctions were political retaliation and violated the First Amendment.

“Immigration enforcement—here, immigration detention and threatened deportation—may not be used as a tool to punish noncitizen speakers who express views disfavored by the current administration,” the complaint said.

“Mr. Ahmed’s effort to protect children from social media dangers and harmful hate speech does not present ’serious foreign policy consequences’—any more than do the actions of the United Kingdom and European Union legislators who voted to pass the laws that Secretary Rubio apparently does not like,” the plaintiff argued in a separate court filing.

Ahmed is also arguing a violation of his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, a violation of immigration laws by tying his speech and views to a cause for deportation, and that the executive branch has exceeded its jurisdiction. The complaint reaffirmed CCDH’s support for the DSA.

U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick has set a hearing in the case for Dec. 29.

“The Supreme Court and Congress have repeatedly made clear: the United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country or reside here,” a State Department spokesperson said.

A new study finds Facebook hosts the vast majority of social media scams, and critics argue it is because Meta prioritizes profit over protecting users, according to the New York Post.

Internal documents obtained by Reuters show Meta projected $16 billion — about 10% of revenue — from scam ads last year. Experts say the company only bans advertisers when its systems detect a 95% probability of fraud, while charging higher ad fees to suspicious buyers, a system critics describe as “pay to play.”

Former California prosecutor Erin West says the documents prove fraud is a “major moneymaker” for Meta. “To know that Facebook is aware of this and they tolerate it — and in fact, they even command additional fees from the worst offenders — is egregious… the practice itself is outrageous, jaw-dropping, unacceptable.”

Data from fraud-reporting firm SafelyHQ shows Facebook is cited in 85% of scam reports that identify a platform, with more than 50,000 verified complaints collected so far. CEO Patrick Quade says the problem is far larger: “For 50,000 people to find us and independently document their losses implies a victim count in the tens of millions… This isn’t ‘cherry-picking’ — it is the overflow of a systemic failure that Meta’s own documents confirm.”

One victim, Brian Kuhn, lost $70 buying records from a fake Facebook sale. “It felt a little creepy that they seemed to know my taste so well… I somehow blame myself equally, but that doesn’t excuse Facebook from allowing the thieves to prey on people.”

The Post writes that lawmakers Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have demanded a federal investigation, writing: “Perversely, Meta reportedly charges higher rates for ads that it suspects might be fraudulent — in effect, imposing a scam tax…”

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone denies the claims, saying: “We aggressively fight fraud and scams… Scammers are persistent criminals…”

Yet internal Meta reports from 2025 found the company was involved in one-third of successful U.S. scams and that it was “easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.”

Another victim, Betty, who bought counterfeit cosmetics from a Facebook ad, described the platform’s targeting: “You like one thing or look at something or you make a comment about one thing and then these ads appear… Some are really good — they’re fake, but you really can’t tell at first.”

Quade warns that “the ‘fox’ isn’t even guarding the henhouse — it’s charging a toll for other foxes to walk right in… Meta’s system is algorithmically trapping regular citizens in e-commerce scams…”

Consumer Reports and policy experts argue Meta’s protection under Section 230 must be narrowed, especially for paid ads. As Quade concludes, “You can’t let the company profiting from the crime be the one in charge of stopping it.”