▓▒░ Big Brother is watching ░▒▓
Do You Know Who's Killing Your Privacy?
Between 2016 and 2021, a single lobbying group funded by the biggest names in tech systematically opposed nearly every privacy bill in Illinois.
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Between 2016 and 2021, a single lobbying group funded by the biggest names in tech systematically opposed nearly every privacy bill in Illinois.
Founded in 2012, the Internet Association (IA) was a Washington D.C. trade group that represented roughly 40 of the most powerful internet companies including: Amazon, Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, Twitter, and more (check out the treemap).
Their official mission: "Represent the interests of America's leading internet companies." But their actual aim in Illinois (IL): To Oppose every bill that would give you control over your own data.
↓ Scroll to reveal who they really are
Hover the treemap tiles on the right to see each company's lobbying spend.
The IA didn't set up offices randomly. They planted themselves in the exact states pushing the most privacy bills. Hover over any state to see its bill count and whether the IA had an office there.
Darker states = more privacy bills introduced in 2019. Red pulsing pins = IA office locations.
4 out of 5 IA state offices sit in the top 4 states for privacy legislation. That's not coincidence - it's strategy.
Each square represents one of 26 unique bills in Illinois (IL) that the IA took a position on. Hover any square for details. Click a square to open its full profile. Scroll to watch them split.
Watch the squares split. Red = Opposed. Green = Supported.
The IA opposed 19 out of 26 bills. The few they supported were: Tax exemptions for online marketplaces, ride-share deregulation, and car-sharing laws. Things that directly benefited their member companies.
Everything that would give you more control over your data? Opposed.
Hover or click any square for bill details.
Now as they split by outcome: Failed vs. Enacted. You can see that of the 19 bills they opposed, 15 failed. Only 4 survived. If you look close: The Right to Know Act was killed three sessions in a row; Geolocation Privacy was killed twice.
Squares split into 4 quadrants. Click any to inspect.
When grouped by topic, the pattern shows that the Privacy & Data bills were overwhelmingly opposed and killed.
The only category where the IA mostly supported legislation was for Sharing Economy — the laws that helped Uber, Airbnb, and Lyft operate with fewer restrictions.
Watch the squares regroup by category. Click any for details.
Yellow squares represent bills that passed despite IA opposition. Red squares represent bills that stalled, failed, or were amended in ways the IA supported.
Click any square to see the full bill profile.
Allow camera access to see yourself being watched.
The scrolling feeds on each side show what the algorithm wants you to see.
No privacy law ➜ your data flows freely ➜ algorithms profile you ➜ you only see what confirms your beliefs ➜ echo chamber ➜ polarization
Americans with consistently ideological views doubled from 10% to 21% in two decades. Facebook's own internal research showed its algorithm amplifies divisive content because anger drives engagement. The IA spent $13.9M making sure the laws that could have stopped this never passed.
Sources: Pew Research · PNAS 2021 · WSJ Facebook Files
January 6, 2021. Years of algorithmically amplified rage, unchecked by privacy laws that were systematically killed, culminated in this.
"Big Brother is watching..."
