upper-up/meta-lobbying-and-other-findingsOpen-source intelligence investigation into Meta's multi-channel lobbying campaign for the App Store Accountability Act, tracing dark money flows, legislative influence, and astroturf advocacy through public records analysis.
Website: https://tboteproject.com Most Recent Repository: https://tboteproject.com/git/hekate/attestation-findings
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An open-source intelligence investigation into how Meta Platforms built a multi-channel influence operation to pass age verification laws that shift regulatory burden from social media platforms onto Apple and Google's app stores.
Every finding in this repository is sourced from public records: IRS 990 filings, Senate LD-2 lobbying disclosures, state lobbying registrations, campaign finance databases, corporate registries, WHOIS/DNS records, Wayback Machine archives, and investigative journalism.
Status: Active investigation. 50 proven findings, 9 structurally possible but unproven hypotheses, multiple pending FOIA responses, and an active OSINT surveillance counter-investigation.
Research period: 2026-03-11 to present
Meta spent a record $26.3 million on federal lobbying in 2025, deployed 86+ lobbyists across 45 states, and covertly funded a "grassroots" child safety group called the Digital Childhood Alliance (DCA) to advocate for the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA). The ASAA requires app stores to verify user ages before downloads but imposes no requirements on social media platforms. If it becomes law, Apple and Google absorb the compliance cost while Meta's apps face zero new mandates.
2026-03-16 UPDATE: DCA's EIN has been identified: 33-2669790. "Digital Childhood Alliance Inc," Delaware, officer Melissa McKay, same address as sister org DCI (213 N Market St PMB 1039, Wilmington DE). Tax year 2024 gross receipts: under $25,000 (990-N e-Postcard filer). An organization coordinating a 20+ state legislative campaign with confirmed Meta funding reports less than $25K in total receipts. The real money never touches this EIN.
This investigation traced funding flows across five confirmed channels, analyzed $2.0 billion in dark money grants, searched 59,736 DAF recipients, parsed LD-2 filings, mapped campaign contributions across four states and reveals Heritage Foundation's role as an institutional credibility launderer for the DCA coalition.
Meta's federal lobbying spending jumped from $19M (2022-2023) to $24M (2024) to $26.3M (2025) as ASAA bills were introduced in roughly 20 states. In Louisiana alone, 12 lobbyists were deployed for a single bill that passed 99-0.
Across all five Arabella Advisors entities (New Venture Fund, Sixteen Thirty Fund, North Fund, Windward Fund, Hopewell Fund), 4,433 grants totaling approximately $2.0 billion were analyzed. Not a single dollar went to any child safety, age verification, or tech policy organization. The Schedule I grant pathway through the Arabella network is definitively ruled out.
Five confirmed channels connect Meta's spending to ASAA advocacy: direct federal lobbying ($26.3M), state lobbyist networks (45 states), the Digital Childhood Alliance (astroturf 501(c)(4)), super PACs ($70M+), and state legislative campaigns (4 laws passed). A sixth channel through the Arabella dark money network is structurally possible but unproven.
Self-contained HTML documents with detailed investigation views:
Clone the repo and open in a browser, or use Forgejo's raw file view.
data/
processed/ 30+ research findings and analysis documents
cross_reference_anomaly_analysis.md 8 anomaly patterns across all channels
five_threads_investigation.md 5 parallel investigation threads
ncose_forgood_fec_investigation.md NCOSE, For Good DAF, Meta super PAC analysis
icmec_model_legislation_investigation.md ICMEC vs DCA model legislation comparison
heritage_foundation_connections.md Heritage Foundation credibility laundering
other_tech_companies_asaa.md Snap, X, Pinterest, Roblox ASAA positions
connectsafely_990_analysis.md ConnectSafely conflicts of interest
tracking.md Master entity/finding tracker (75 entities, 11 bills)
all_findings.json Structured database of all 248 findings
... 24 additional analysis files
raw/
osint_990/ Raw IRS 990 data extracts
connectsafely_990/ ConnectSafely XML/PDF 990 filings (2015-2024)
disclosures/ Colorado lobbyist monthly disclosure PDFs
output/
reports/ Summary reports, charts, HTML documentation
timeline/ Interactive timeline visualizations
briefs/ Policy briefs and public comments
Meta retained 40+ lobbying firms and 87 federal lobbyists in 2025 (85% with prior government service). Meta's own LD-2 filings with the Senate explicitly list H.R. 3149/S. 1586, the App Store Accountability Act, as a lobbied bill. The filing narrative includes "protecting children, bullying prevention and online safety; youth safety and federal parental approval; youth restrictions on social media."
At the state level, confirmed operations include $338,500 to Headwaters Strategies (Colorado), $324,992+ across 9 firms and 12 lobbyists in Louisiana, and $1,036,728 in direct California lobbying (Q1-Q3 2025 alone). A Meta lobbyist brought the legislative language for Louisiana HB-570 directly to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Kim Carver, who confirmed this publicly.
DCA is a 501(c)(4) advocacy group that Meta covertly funds. Bloomberg exposed the funding relationship in July 2025. Under oath at a Louisiana Senate committee hearing, Executive Director Casey Stefanski admitted receiving tech company funding but refused to name donors.