LittleSis
Connects dots between influential / wealthy individuals in (mostly US) politics and business.
URL
https://littlesis.org/database
Description
LittleSis is a database that houses information from a range of online sources on powerful individuals and organisations in the public and private sectors in the Unites States. It seeks to show the relationships between those individuals and organisations, with the aim of helping users to track relationships (e.g. donations to politicians and political action committees, also called PACs, and board memberships). The goal is to help the user to follow the money and discover connections between those that hold public and private sector power.
According to their website, LittleSis includes data from "government filings, news articles, and other reputable sources". It is maintained through automatic updates and manual edits. Links to data sources are provided.
If you search for keywords via the search box at the top of the LittleSis main website (circled in green), you'll get LittleSis news articles:
LittleSis' main offering is their database - to access it, click on 'Database' in the top menu. You'll get to the main database page:
When you search, you'll get a list of results (people or organisations). Here's an example of a person's page:
The person page has links to a wide range of relationships that the person has (for which LittleSis has data). The types of relationships in the example above include business positions, board memberships, positions, federal election campaign contributions, universities attended, holdings (companies in which they have ownership), family, and others.
The 'Interlocks' tab lists people with positions in the same organisations as the person you searched - this can help you see the networks of people with whom they are associated. The 'Giving' tab lists people who also received donations from organisations and people to whom the person donated. The 'Data' tab allows you to filter and search the person's relationships. For instance, here are the lobbying firms in which Hunter Biden holds current or past positions:
Here's an example of an organisation's page:
An organisation page has the same kinds of information as a person's page.
LittleSis includes 'network maps' for all entities (people and organisations):
Access the network maps from a person's or organisation's search results page. The map will show you relationships that illustrate the topic of the map like donations (e.g. in the map above, Henry R Kravis donated US$1 million to Trump's inauguration). You can create your own maps, but you need to be registered to do that. (Once you have logged in, go to Add>Map.)
LittleSis data is searchable online, can be accessed through an API, and can be downloaded as JSON files.
Cost
Level of difficulty
Requirements
You have to sign up with an e-mail address to use some features of LittleSis. (It's free.)
Limitations
It's not clear what criteria are used to determine whether data should be included in LittleSis or not. The database is focused on the United States.
Ethical Considerations
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Guide
LittleSis: Help on their database. It's worth using this if you are new to LittleSis, especially the 'Intro to the LittleSis Database' video.
LittleSis: Map the Power Toolkit
Public Accountancy Initiative: How to Use the LittleSis.org database
Tool provider
The Public Accountability Initiative, U.S.
Advertising Trackers
Katherine de Tolly
Last updated
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