GoKawiilMeta Platforms: Lobbying, Dark Money, and the App Store Accountability Act
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. 47 proven findings, 9 structurally possible but unproven hypotheses, and multiple pending FOIA responses.
Research period: 2026-03-11 to present
The Investigation at a Glance
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.
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, and mapped campaign contributions across four states to document the operation.
Key Visuals
Meta's Lobbying Expenditures
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