Capture lane

Digital and Tech Capture

The Digital and Tech Capture capture lane traces 589 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.

589 events From Jan 1, 1970 To May 28, 2026 Open in filter view →
Top 10 actors in this lane 10 actors · 1836–2026
Top actors in Digital and Tech Capture18401845185018551860186518701875188018851890189519001905191019151920192519301935194019451950195519601965197019751980198519901995200020052010201520202025WatergateReaganIran-Contra9/11Citizens UnitedTrump 1.0Trump 2.0Donald Trump1403 eventsElon Musk186 eventsAmazonJeff BezosxAICondoleezza RiceDepartment of Justice330 eventsFacebookWhite House Iraq GroupKarl Rove
Capture lanecorruptiondemocraticexecutivefinancialintelligencejudiciallaborlegislativemediamilitaryotherregulatory Status confirmed alleged disputed
DateEventLanesStatus
2018-11-29Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress About Trump Tower Moscow Timeline 4 src
Michael Cohen · Donald Trump · Robert Mueller
confirmed
2018-11-13Amazon Selects NYC and Arlington for HQ2—Extracting at Least $4.6 Billion in Subsidies 3 src
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Andrew Cuomo
confirmed
2018-11-01Northrop Grumman Pays $31.65 Million for Fraudulent Overbilling of Air Force Contracts 3 src
Northrop Grumman · Department of Justice · U.S. Air Force · Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed
2018-10-27Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre: Gab-Radicalized Gunman Kills 11 in Deadliest Antisemitic Attack in US History 3 src confirmed
2018-10-02Amazon Raises Minimum Wage to $15 But Eliminates Bonuses and Stock Options 3 src
Jeff Bezos · Amazon
confirmed
2018-09-26Amazon's Anti-Union Training Video Leaked - Exposes Systematic Union Suppression Program 3 src
Jeff Bezos · Amazon
confirmed
2018-09-05Bernie Sanders Introduces "Stop BEZOS Act" Targeting Amazon Wages 3 src
Bernie Sanders · Jeff Bezos · Amazon · Ro Khanna
confirmed
2018-08-21Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Campaign Finance Violations, Implicates Trump as "Individual-1" 3 src
Michael Cohen · Donald Trump · Stormy Daniels · Karen McDougal
confirmed
2018-08-21Rep. Duncan Hunter and Wife Indicted for $250,000 Campaign Finance Fraud 3 src
Margaret Hunter
confirmed
2018-08-14Peter Thiel's Founders Fund Invests $15M in Carbyne, Connecting Epstein-Barak Surveillance Network to Erik Prince Operations 5 src
Peter Thiel · Erik Prince · Lital Leshem · Jeffrey Epstein · +6
confirmed
2018-08-01200+ Palantir Employees Sign Letter Protesting Company's ICE Contracts; External Protesters Demonstrate 4 src
Palantir Technologies · Alex Karp · U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement · Tech Workers Coalition
confirmed
2018-07-26ACLU test reveals Amazon Rekognition misidentified 28 Congress members as criminals, showing racial bias 4 src
American Civil Liberties Union · Amazon · AWS · John Lewis
confirmed
2018-07-18EU Fines Google Record €4.34B for Android Monopoly Abuse Through Bundling 4 src
Google · European Commission · Sundar Pichai · Huawei
confirmed
2018-07-13HHS Inspector General Finds Tom Price Violated Federal Travel Rules, Wasted $341,000 on Private Jets 4 src
Tom Price · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
confirmed
2018-07-12Tech Workers Coalition: Establishing Digital Resistance Infrastructure 3 src
Tech Workers Coalition
confirmed
2018-06-23Peter Thiel Receives First Putin Meeting Invitation Through Russian Diplomat 3 src
Peter Thiel · Vladimir Putin · Daniil Bisslinger · Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed
2018-06-15Amazon aggressively pitches Rekognition facial recognition to ICE during family separation crisis 4 src
Amazon · AWS · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · DHS (Department of Homeland Security) · +1
confirmed
2018-06-14New York AG Sues Trump Foundation for "Persistent Illegal Conduct" and Coordinating with Campaign 3 src
Barbara Underwood · Donald Trump · Donald Trump Jr. · Eric Trump · +2
confirmed
2018-06-11Net Neutrality Repeal Officially Takes Effect, Permitting ISPs to Throttle, Block, and Prioritize Content for Payment 3 src
Federal Communications Commission · Ajit Pai · Comcast Corporation · Verizon Communications · +1
confirmed
2018-05-16Michigan State University Agrees to $500 Million Settlement with 332 Nassar Survivors—Largest University Sexual Abuse Settlement in History 4 src
Michigan State University · Larry Nassar
confirmed
2018-05-08Armenian Parliament Confirms Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister, Completing Velvet Revolution 3 src confirmed
2018-05-08Ring launches Neighbors app creating crowdsourced surveillance network 3 src
Ring · Amazon
confirmed
2018-03-29Fayette County, Georgia becomes first US jurisdiction to deploy Carbyne's Israeli Unit 8200-developed 911 surveillance technology 3 src
Carbyne · Ehud Barak · Lital Leshem · Jeffrey Epstein · +2
confirmed
2018-03-10Zeynep Tufekci Exposes YouTube as "The Great Radicalizer": Recommendation Algorithm Systematically Pushes Users Toward Extremism 3 src
YouTube · Google
confirmed
2018-03-01Facebook Lobbies Irish Government to Weaken GDPR Enforcement, Creates EU Data Protection Haven 4 src
Facebook · Irish Data Protection Commission · European Commission
confirmed
2018-02-27Amazon acquires Ring for over $1 billion, creating foundation for private surveillance network 3 src
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Ring
confirmed
2018-02-05Trump's CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney Shuts Down Equifax Investigation, Exposing Regulatory Capture 3 src
Mick Mulvaney · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Equifax · Donald Trump · +1
confirmed
2018-01-01Amazon Pays Zero Federal Income Tax Again on $11.2 Billion Profit—Receives $129 Million Tax Rebate 3 src
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
confirmed
2018-01-01Grayshift Secures Major Contracts with ICE, DEA, and FBI for GrayKey Technology 3 src
Grayshift · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · Drug Enforcement Administration · Federal Bureau of Investigation · +2
confirmed
2017-12-14FCC Under Ajit Pai Repeals Net Neutrality in 3-2 Party-Line Vote 3 src
Ajit Pai · Donald Trump · Verizon Communications · AT&T
confirmed
2017-10-30Mueller Indicts Paul Manafort and Rick Gates on 12 Counts Including Conspiracy Against the United States 3 src
Paul Manafort · Robert Mueller
confirmed
2017-10-28First QAnon Post on 4chan's /pol/: Chan Culture's Conspiracy Architecture Produces a Mass Political Movement 3 src confirmed
2017-10-05George Papadopoulos Becomes First Trump Campaign Official to Plead Guilty in Mueller Probe 4 src
Robert Mueller · Donald Trump
confirmed
2017-09-13Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Requested Military Jet for European Honeymoon, Request Denied After Scrutiny 3 src confirmed
2017-09-07Equifax Finally Discloses Breach 40 Days After Discovery, Exposing Regulatory Capture 3 src
Equifax · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Mick Mulvaney · Securities and Exchange Commission
confirmed
2017-08-21Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Uses Military Jet for Solar Eclipse Viewing Trip to Kentucky 3 src
Mitch McConnell
confirmed
2017-06-01Anduril Industries Founded by Palantir Alumni with Thiel Backing, Building Autonomous Weapons Layer 2 src
Palmer Luckey · Trae Stephens · Peter Thiel · Founders Fund · +1
confirmed
2017-05-15FCC Begins Investigation into Massive Fake Comments Campaign on Net Neutrality Repeal 4 src
Ajit Pai · Federal Communications Commission
confirmed
2017-05-13Equifax Data Breach Exposes 147 Million Americans Due to Unpatched Apache Struts Vulnerability 3 src
Equifax · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
confirmed
2017-04-25DarkMatter Signs Strategic Surveillance Technology Agreement with Huawei, Facilitated by Erik Prince Network 3 src
Huawei · Erik Prince · United Arab Emirates
confirmed
2017-04-07Taser International Rebrands as Axon, Offers Free Body Cameras to Every US Police Officer in Aggressive Market Expansion 3 src
Axon · Rick Smith
confirmed
2017-03-30Palmer Luckey Leaves Facebook After Political Donation Controversy 2 src
Palmer Luckey · Mark Zuckerberg · Facebook · Donald Trump
confirmed
2017-02-22Washington Post Launches "Democracy Dies in Darkness" Slogan Under Bezos Ownership 3 src
Jeff Bezos · Washington Post
confirmed
2017-02-15Cofer Black, Former Blackwater Vice Chairman and CIA Counterterrorism Chief, Joins Burisma Board 4 src
Erik Prince · Hunter Biden · Mitt Romney
confirmed
2017-01-23Trump Appoints Ajit Pai as FCC Chairman, Installing Former Verizon Lawyer to Regulate His Former Employer 3 src
Donald Trump · Ajit Pai · Verizon Communications · Federal Communications Commission · +1
confirmed
2017-01-1428 States Adopt Right-to-Work Laws, Documenting ALEC's Systematic Labor Suppression Success 3 src
American Legislative Exchange Council · Koch brothers · Americans for Prosperity · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · +2
confirmed
2017-01-01Amazon Pays Zero Federal Income Tax on $5.6 Billion Profit 3 src
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
confirmed
2017-01-01Clearview AI Founded to Build Mass Facial Recognition Database 2 src
Hoan Ton-That · Peter Thiel · Clearview AI
confirmed
2017-01-01Hacker Steals 900 GB of Data from Cellebrite, Exposing Customer Information and Technical Details 3 src
Cellebrite
confirmed
2016-11-30Amazon launches Rekognition facial recognition service, targeting law enforcement 3 src
Amazon · AWS · Andy Jassy
confirmed
2016-09-12Indianapolis Star Investigation Exposes Nassar Abuse After FBI Sat on Allegations for 14 Months 3 src
Larry Nassar · USA Gymnastics · Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed
2016-08-17Bannon Named Trump Campaign CEO: The Gamergate-to-MAGA Pipeline Is Formalized 3 src
Steve Bannon · Donald Trump · Kellyanne Conway · Robert Mercer
confirmed
2016-08-14Black Ledger Reveals $12.7 Million in Secret Cash Payments to Trump Campaign Chair Manafort 4 src
Paul Manafort · Oleg Deripaska · Trump Campaign
confirmed
2016-07-27Trump Publicly Calls on Russia to Hack Clinton Emails, GRU Begins Targeting Clinton Servers Same Day 4 src
Donald Trump · Russian GRU · Hillary Clinton · Robert Mueller
confirmed
2016-06-12Walgreens Terminates Theranos Partnership After 31,000 Customers Receive Voided Test Results 3 src
Walgreens · Theranos · Elizabeth Holmes · Food and Drug Administration · +1
confirmed
2016-05-20Russian Official Alexander Torshin Meets Donald Trump Jr. at NRA Convention After Requesting Trump Meeting 2 src
Alexander Torshin · Maria Butina · Donald Trump Jr. · Donald Trump · +1
confirmed
2016-03-15CDC Issues First Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, Twenty Years After OxyContin Launch 3 src
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
confirmed
2016-03-01FBI Works with Cellebrite to Crack San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone After Apple Refuses 4 src
Federal Bureau of Investigation · Cellebrite · Apple
confirmed
2016-02-16FBI Orders Apple to Break iPhone Encryption in San Bernardino Case 4 src
Apple · Tim Cook · Federal Bureau of Investigation · James Comey · +1
confirmed
2016-01-28Trump Uses Charity Foundation for Iowa Campaign Event, Violating Tax Law 3 src
Donald Trump · Trump Foundation · Corey Lewandowski
confirmed
2016-01-01DHS Initiates HART Program to Replace IDENT: 290M+ Identity Biometric Backbone; GAO Finds Significant Management and Privacy Shortcomings in 2023 6 src
Government Accountability Office
confirmed
2016-01-01Grayshift Founded in Atlanta to Develop GrayKey iPhone Unlocking Technology 3 src
Grayshift
confirmed
2016-01-01NRA Spends Record $30-55 Million Supporting Trump, FBI Investigates Russian Money Laundering 4 src
National Rifle Association · Donald Trump · Maria Butina · Alexander Torshin · +2
confirmed
2015-10-27Bannon Launches Breitbart Tech with Milo Yiannopoulos to Capture Gamergate Army: "Rootless White Males" 3 src
Steve Bannon · Milo Yiannopoulos · Robert Mercer
confirmed
2015-10-27Northrop Grumman Wins $80 Billion B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Contract 3 src
Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · U.S. Department of Defense · Boeing · +2
confirmed
2015-10-15Wall Street Journal Exposes Theranos Blood-Testing Fraud in Landmark Investigation 3 src
Elizabeth Holmes · Theranos · Wall Street Journal · Walgreens · +1
confirmed
2015-08-01ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System Expands to Major U.S. Cities 3 src
ShotSpotter · NYPD
confirmed
2015-07-28FBI Indianapolis Field Office Receives Nassar Allegations from USA Gymnastics, Fails to Open Investigation for 14 Months 4 src
Federal Bureau of Investigation · W. Jay Abbott · Michael Langeman · USA Gymnastics · +2
confirmed
2015-06-29NBC Fires Trump from The Apprentice Following Racist Comments About Mexican Immigrants 3 src
Donald Trump · NBC
confirmed
2015-06-18Northrop Grumman Pays $11.4 Million for Illegally Billing Executive Compensation to Federal Contracts 3 src
Northrop Grumman · Department of Justice
confirmed
2015-06-10Reddit Bans r/FatPeopleHate and Hate Subreddits: Deplatforming Pushes Users to Voat and 8chan, Accelerating Radicalization 2 src confirmed
2015-03-17Rep. Aaron Schock Resigns Amid Luxury Spending and Mileage Fraud Scandal 3 src confirmed
2015-02-01PredPol Predictive Policing Software Adopted by 60 U.S. Police Departments 3 src
PredPol
confirmed
2014-09-17Apple Announces iOS 8 Encryption Makes iPhones Unlockable Even by Apple 4 src
Apple · Tim Cook · National Security Agency · Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed
2014-06-28Facebook Emotional Contagion Experiment Revealed 4 src
Facebook
confirmed
2014-02-24Oracle Acquires BlueKai Data Broker for $400 Million, Expands Surveillance Operations 3 src
Oracle · Larry Ellison
confirmed
2014-02-19Facebook Acquires WhatsApp for $19 Billion to Dominate Messaging Market 4 src
Facebook · Mark Zuckerberg · WhatsApp · Federal Trade Commission
confirmed
2014-01-01CNP Membership Includes DeVos and Mercer Families - Billionaire Donor Integration 2 src
Council for National Policy · DeVos family · Betsy DeVos · Erik Prince
confirmed
2014-01-01Erik Prince Founds Frontier Services Group with Chinese State Investment from CITIC, Controlled by Chang Zhenming 4 src
Erik Prince · CITIC Group · Frontier Services Group
confirmed
2013-12-09American Airlines-US Airways Merger Creates Airline Oligopoly: Big Four Control 75% of Market 3 src
American Airlines · Department of Justice · Antitrust Division
confirmed
2013-12-05Tech Companies Launch Transparency Reports After NSA Revelations 4 src
Google · Microsoft · Yahoo · Facebook · +2
confirmed
2013-08-08Lavabit Encrypted Email Service Shuts Down Rather Than Comply with NSA Demands 4 src
Federal Bureau of Investigation · National Security Agency · Edward Snowden
confirmed
2013-08-05Jeff Bezos Purchases Washington Post for $250 Million 3 src
Jeff Bezos
confirmed
2013-08-01Chicago Police Launch Strategic Subject List "Heat List" Predictive Policing Program 3 src
Chicago Police Department
confirmed
2013-06-06Washington Post and Guardian Reveal NSA PRISM Program for Direct Server Access 3 src
Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · National Security Agency · Microsoft · +4
confirmed
2013-06-05Snowden Reveals NSA Mass Surveillance and PRISM Program 3 src
Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · Julian Assange
confirmed
2013-04-03Edwin Feulner Retires as Heritage Foundation President After 36 Years Building Conservative Movement Infrastructure 4 src
Edwin Feulner · Heritage Foundation · Jim DeMint · Richard Scaife · +4
confirmed
2013-03-15Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Drone Costs Surge to $222 Million Per Aircraft 3 src
Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · U.S. Department of Defense · U.S. Government Accountability Office
confirmed
2013-02-20Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Pleads Guilty to $750,000 Campaign Fund Fraud 3 src confirmed
2013-01-03Google's Political Influence Derails FTC Antitrust Investigation 3 src
Federal Trade Commission · Larry Page · Eric Schmidt · Obama Administration
confirmed
2012-10-01Reddit's "Manosphere" Reaches Critical Mass: r/TheRedPill and r/MensRights Become Gateway to White Nationalist Radicalization 3 src confirmed
2012-06-01New Orleans Police Launch Secret Palantir Predictive Policing Program 3 src
Palantir Technologies · Peter Thiel
confirmed
2012-04-09Facebook Acquires Instagram for Billion to Neutralize Potential Competitor 5 src
Mark Zuckerberg · Federal Trade Commission
confirmed
2012-01-15PredPol Predictive Policing Company Founded 2 src confirmed
2012-01-01Amazon Implements Automated Worker Surveillance and Tracking System 3 src
Jeff Bezos · Amazon
confirmed
2012-01-01Patent Trolls Dominate U.S. Patent Litigation: 61% of All Cases, Systematic Small Business Extraction 3 src
U.S. Government Accountability Office
confirmed
2011-09-18Amazon Lehigh Valley Warehouse Heat Exhaustion Scandal Exposed 3 src
Jeff Bezos · Amazon
confirmed
2011-09-01LAPD Launches Operation LASER Predictive Policing Program with Palantir 3 src
LAPD · Palantir Technologies · Peter Thiel
confirmed
2011-01-01Geofeedia Founded to Enable Location-Based Social Media Surveillance 3 src
In-Q-Tel
confirmed
2010-01-01DonorsTrust Organizational Profile: Dark Money ATM Enabling Anonymous Billionaire Political Spending 4 src
DonorsTrust · Koch brothers · Federalist Society · State Policy Network · +2
confirmed