An interactive map revealing the funding relationships between Big Tech, AI companies, and journalism — exposing the emerging architecture of media capture.
Media Capture Watch is an interactive data visualization that maps the funding relationships between Big Tech companies, AI startups, and journalism organizations worldwide. It aims to make visible the emerging architecture of influence that is reshaping the media landscape — what researchers call the "third wave" of enclosure, where platforms control not just content or data, but the very capacity for independent meaning-making.
Between 2018 and 2025, a handful of technology companies have committed over $1 billion in funding to news organizations through grants, content licensing deals, AI training partnerships, and revenue-sharing programs. While individual deals may serve legitimate purposes, the cumulative pattern reveals a structural dependency that raises profound questions about editorial independence.
Over 90% of deals struck in 2025 are explicitly AI-related — content licensing for large language models, chatbot training data, and AI search integration. This represents a fundamental shift from earlier philanthropy-style grants toward commercial extraction of journalism's core asset: its credibility and content.
Notable absences: Anthropic, Nvidia, X/Twitter, and TikTok/ByteDance were tracked but have no identified journalism funding partnerships — a finding that is itself significant.
This dataset was compiled from public sources including press releases, regulatory filings, trade publications (Digiday, Press Gazette, Columbia Journalism Review), and academic research. Financial figures include both disclosed amounts and estimates from industry reporting. Where amounts are undisclosed, deals are included with qualitative descriptors.
Network view: Explore the web of relationships. Click any node to see its deals. Filter by company. Drag the timeline to see how relationships evolved. Zoom and pan to navigate.
Flow view: A Sankey-style visualization showing the volume and direction of funding from tech companies to media categories.
Search: Find any entity — tech company, media organization, or program name.
Research and data: Nana Nwachukwu — Trinity College Dublin
Part of ongoing research into AI audit ecosystems, media capture, and platform governance.
With thanks to Dirk Blankvoort, Xeenarh Mohammed and the creator of Surveillance Watch, who encouraged me to write in HTML.
More thanks to Mercy Abang at UnbiastheNews.
Inspired by Surveillance Watch (DAIR Institute).
If you have corrections, additions, or want to contribute data, please open an issue on GitHub or get in touch.