The Power Map investigates in real time who’s doing what to win the arms race to, as Meta’s 2025 annual report put it, “deliver superintelligence for everyone.” Led by Editor in Chief Jayne Lytel, the map assembles public records on each player and uses AI data-modeling to cross-reference them, reading the filings for the relationships and patterns worth a closer look. Relationships that raise questions are not evidence of wrongdoing.
The first edition tracks Meta’s $27 billion Hyperion data center in rural Louisiana and serves as a proof of concept for building similar profiles that extend to OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle, for example. Reports update daily when new information surfaces; issue alerts take the guesswork out of what has changed in filings, public comment, approvals, denials, and related actions. The data is publicly sourced—drawn from campaign-finance filings (FEC), federal lobbying disclosures (Senate LDA), state ethics and utility-commission records, court dockets, SEC filings, and corporate registrations—with its discovery, collection, and analysis orchestrated by an open-source intelligence workforce guided by task-specific Claude skills.
Solid lines indicate relationships involving Meta Inc. that are documented in public records, including Federal Election Commission filings, Louisiana Ethics Administration disclosures, U.S. Senate lobbying reports, utility-commission dockets, and named media reporting. The lines represent primary-source evidence and are considered high confidence. Dashed lines denote relationships reported in secondary sources that have not yet been confirmed through primary documentation. For clarity, Meta’s federal lobbying network—spanning 23 firms and 20 agencies—is consolidated into a single node.
A $1.6 trillion company negotiated public concessions as an anonymous local developer. By the time Louisiana granted a ~$3.3 billion tax break and approved Entergy’s gas plants, officials were dealing with “Laidley LLC”—not Meta. Who sits across the table changes the deal a public body will give.
A regulated monopoly is building new gas-fired power for one private customer. The unresolved question—now before state regulators—is who absorbs the cost if Meta leaves: its parent guarantee, or Entergy’s household ratepayers. This is where a private data center reaches into public utility bills.
The official who championed the state’s data-center incentives received money from the project’s beneficiary. The map records how close the money sits to the decision. It documents proximity, not a quid pro quo.
Meta’s money also reaches the Louisiana members of Congress whose seats and committees touch energy and technology. A local project is wired to the federal officials who represent the host state.
Hyperion is one node inside a national influence operation. Roughly $3.8 million a year buys access across the agencies that govern data, energy, and trade. The Louisiana deal sits inside a Washington one.
The same company seeking public subsidies fields top-tier counsel across antitrust, product-liability, and privacy. It is the cost of operating at this scale, and a measure of the legal exposure the buildout carries.
Laidley LLC is a special-purpose vehicle—a shell with no operating history. Entergy Louisiana’s own filing to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (Docket U-37425) names its parent as Meta Platforms, Inc. In 2025 Meta restructured the holding under a new Delaware parent, Beignet Investors—formed the same day the LPSC approved Entergy’s gas plants—leaving Meta a ~20% stake.
Meta’s Louisiana entities run on a Creole naming theme: the project codename was “Project Sucre” (French for sugar) and the new parent is “Beignet” (the New Orleans pastry). The name “Laidley” breaks pattern—a Scottish-Borders surname—and the origin of Meta’s choice is not publicly documented.
Each firm is verified as counsel of record for Meta itself via the docket party→attorney records—one per major litigation front, not every firm on Meta’s dockets. Meta is a party in 6,900+ federal dockets. browse the full record →
Lists current and most recent periodic reports. The annual 10-K and DEF 14A (proxy) name Meta’s directors, executive pay, and risk factors; 8-Ks are material events. The documents link to the SEC’s EDGAR system.