Reddit investigator traces $2 billion in grants — 'child safety' age verification laws are written by a company that profits from your data

'Child Safety' Age Verification Is a $2 Billion Data Harvesting Scam — And Someone Proved It

A Reddit investigator did what journalists should have done years ago: followed the money. They traced $2 billion in nonprofit grants across 45 states and discovered the truth — the companies writing "child safety" age verification laws are the same companies that profit from collecting your identity data. The receipts are on GitHub.

The Investigation

Using OSINT techniques, the investigator mapped lobbying expenditures, nonprofit grant flows, and corporate connections across 45 states. The result: a single company is effectively ghostwriting legislation that requires citizens to submit identity documents to access the internet — and that company directly profits from processing those documents.

The Scam

Here's how it works: lobby state legislators to pass "protect the children" age verification laws. Those laws require websites to verify users' ages using identity documents. The company that lobbied for the law provides the verification technology. Every ID scan generates revenue. Every citizen who wants to use the internet becomes a customer — involuntarily.

7,758 Upvotes

The post hit 7,758 upvotes on r/privacy because it wasn't speculation — it was receipts. GitHub repo. Grant documents. Lobbying records. Corporate filings. The entire money trail, laid out for anyone to verify.

The Political Cover

Hillary Clinton appeared at an event with Zuckerberg, Gates, and Bezos to push the same age verification framework. When the most powerful people in tech and politics align behind a "child safety" initiative that happens to create a massive identity surveillance infrastructure, the question isn't whether it's about children. It's about who profits.