Social media giant Meta is pouring money into Illinois’ Democratic statehouse primary races as the company behind Facebook and Instagram faces a wave of state-level proposals that could likely affect its bottom line.

After putting $45 million into a super PAC last year to influence state elections in favor of tech-friendly candidates nationwide, the company has begun spending specifically on state races supporting Republicans in Texas and Democrats in Illinois.

In Illinois, Meta is bankrolling $750,000 for a new super PAC, Making Our Tomorrow, according to state campaign disclosure reports. In less than two weeks, the super PAC has spent nearly $340,000 on mailers and digital advertising to support four Democratic state House primary candidates — Paul Kendrick in the Lincoln Park-area’s 12th District, Adam Braun in the Uptown neighborhood’s 13th District, Aja Kearney in the South Side and south suburban’s 34th District and Rep. Jaime Andrade in the Northwest Side’s 40th District. Andrade’s race is the only one involving an incumbent as he faces an upstart progressive challenger backed by the Chicago Teachers Union.

Opponents of the candidates being backed by Making Our Tomorrow, some of whom have enthusiastically supported legislation that could raise digital ad taxes or efforts to stymie the proliferation of data centers in Illinois, said they are worried the Meta-backed candidates will go along with the company’s interests if elected, a charge those reached by the Tribune denied.

Braun, a former Illinois deputy attorney general, said he doesn’t know why Meta is supporting his candidacy. But he said the company’s backing, which has totaled more than $106,000 in campaign expenses through Tuesday, won’t influence his beliefs. He said he supports strong AI regulations and that he previously worked with Attorney General Kwame Raoul to sue Meta for targeting children in its business model.

“If they think that they can use this IE (independent expenditure) committee to change my views, they’re going to be mistaken. Again, I’m looking forward to standing up to Meta and anyone else that tries to do harmful things to the people of the 13th District and the people in the state of Illinois,” Braun said.

The sweeping ad buys come as the General Assembly is set to consider a wide range of AI, data center and social media regulations. Policies that may be of particular interest to Meta include several that Gov. JB Pritzker pledged during his State of the State address would be introduced: a new tax on social media platforms, a two-year moratorium on tax incentives for data centers and restrictions on how social media algorithms interact with minors.

Asked about Meta’s state-level policy priorities, the company pointed to a September statement that said Meta was “launching an effort to support the election of state candidates across the country who embrace AI development, champion the U.S. technology industry, and defend American tech leadership at home and abroad.”

“Amid a growing patchwork of inconsistent regulations that threaten homegrown innovation and investments in AI, state lawmakers are uniquely positioned to ensure that America remains a global technology leader,” Meta Vice President of Public Policy Brian Rice said in the statement.

A spokesperson for the PAC, Peter Kauffmann, declined to comment on the specific motivations for its involvement in Illinois.

“Making Our Tomorrow’s mission is to elect Democrats who champion the policies, innovation, and technologies that drive opportunity for all Americans,” he said in a statement. “We plan to support candidates who are committed to advancing solutions for their communities, who prioritize responsive and effective government, and who are focused on delivering solutions.”

Meta’s independent spending means the company is not donating directly to the four candidates but rather putting money into a fundraising committee that is then spending on advertising to support them. The candidates and the fundraising committees are not legally allowed to coordinate.

Kendrick, a nonprofit leader who has worked to elect Democrats, said he supports regulating social media and data center development and that Meta’s support won’t sway his views. Kendrick added that he supports the governor’s social media platform tax and two-year moratorium on tax incentives for data centers.

The Meta-backed PAC has spent nearly $142,000 through Tuesday backing his campaign.

“I don’t want their support,” Kendrick said. “It’s frustrating to be doing everything right, and then an outside entity does something I didn’t ask for.”

Mac LeBuhn, an adviser in former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration and one of Kendrick’s opponents in the Democratic primary, said in an interview that Kendrick’s public opposition to the Meta-backed spending came after multiple mailers from the PAC had already arrived at potential voters’ homes.

Given that all four districts lean strongly Democratic — and there’s no Republican running in the 34th District where Kearney is running — the winners of these primaries will be heavily favored to represent their districts in Springfield.

In addition to the more than $248,000 the Making Our Tomorrow PAC has spent benefiting the Braun and Kendrick campaigns through Tuesday, the Meta-backed PAC has so far spent nearly $49,000 more backing Kearney’s candidacy and $43,000 helping Andrade’s reelection run.

Neither Kearney nor Andrade responded to inquiries from the Tribune about the support they’ve received from the social media and AI giant.

Opponents of the backed candidates are using the spending as fuel for campaign attacks ahead of the March 17 primary.

Kendrick’s three Democratic primary opponents — LeBuhn, Karim Lakhani and Litcy Kurisinkal — released a joint statement Feb. 23 demanding Kendrick be transparent about his AI policies and corporate supporters. Miguel Alvelo-Rivera, who is looking to unseat Andrade, highlighted his support for stricter data center regulations in an Instagram Reel, drawing a contrast with Andrade’s help from Meta. James O’Brien, an adviser at the Illinois Commerce Commission and one of four candidates running against Braun, launched a dedicated website to highlight the support Braun received from corporate PACs tied to Meta and DraftKings.

“If you’ve noticed Adam’s ads you know he’s running as part of a six-figure ad buy, ads saying that he took on corporate lobbyists and took on corporate interests, yet he’s taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from PACs,” O’Brien said. “It’s just corporate influence and politics in the worst ways.”

Meta’s agenda is clear, said Lakhani, a business owner and attorney who led the Lincoln Park-area race in fundraising as of the end of last year, primarily powered by family money.

“They’re worried about AI and data center regulations. We are at a point where the governor is pausing tax incentives. We are seeing legislation around green energy,” he said.

Several opponents of the Meta-backed candidates have taken strong public stances on AI, social media and data centers. Alvelo-Rivera, the Northwest Side challenger, has regulating AI data centers at the top of his climate agenda on his website, for example.

“They called it ‘Making Our Tomorrow,’” Alvelo-Rivera, executive director of the worker organization Latino Union of Chicago, said of the PAC. “I think that just underscores that Meta thinks it can call the shots about what our collective future looks like, and you know, that’s not democracy. That’s not what our communities are about.”

A similar story is playing out in Texas, where Meta has dumped nearly $1.4 million into its other new PAC, Forge the Future, which, in turn, spent about the same amount backing nearly a dozen Republicans ahead of Tuesday’s Texas primary. The California-based tech company also put another $20 million into a third super PAC — Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California — last year, with a similar goal of backing tech-friendly candidates in state races regardless of party.