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The proposal would require social media platforms to pay a monthly fee based on the number of active users in Illinois, with larger companies paying higher fees. For example, social media companies with 1 million or more users in Illinois would be charged $165,000 per month, plus 50 cents per month for each user over 1 million. The legislation would prohibit social media companies from passing along the fee to users.
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
10 Comments
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
5 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Audio and summary
“eventually you run out of other people’s money” Margaret Thatcher. She described socialism that way. We are witnessing it right in front of out faces. The Illinois government runs out of “other people’s money” and then return to take more and more. Illinois is a socialist state with no controls or fiscal responsibility. The state house gives money away to prop up social programs like it is nothing and expands social programs at a time when Illinois is broke. I believe they know it can’t be fixed, and they know the Federal government will have to bail the State out…they… Read more »
Mr Google says: Given that there are over 10 million social media users in the state and 744,000+ businesses utilizing Google to connect with customers, it is highly likely that a vast majority of the adult population in Illinois uses Google services regularly. So low estimate (because above is a population count and not an email and/or domain based count), 11 million users per month, Google would pay $60M per year in monthly user fees and another $2M for the base fee. $62M is a fair amount of money to expect to not be recovered from users–say a sliding inquiry… Read more »
I can’t wait to here about the proposed cuts! (there is no purple)
There are underfunded districts throughout the state. None of them are CPS, which will receive the largest benefit from this despite already spending $31k per student while keeping open a multitude of vastly under enrolled schools and shows no signs of fiscal discipline. That aside, this is about pension funding anyway. The lottery assisting to fund education was BS from the start. We now take statewide highway funds to support an incompetent CTA and this new tax will be more of that. One more example of Pritzker’s financially destructive record.
When he ” proposes” these taxes he should wear a face mask like a thief robbing a bank. That way he wouldn’t have to bite his lip to keep from smiling
First, they raised cell phone taxes. Then, streaming media. Now, social media. Can they figure a way to tax texts and emails?
Give them time and they will : (
Put the STOLEN MONEY FROM THE LOTTERY back into funding schools !!!
Assuming this will work like the lottery the taxes generated will go to education but then a like amount will be cut from general funding meaning essentially this is just another slush fund tax like the lottery was and is. Amazingly to this day many still think that the lottery waas extra money for education as the information level of the Illinois voter sinks to new lows no doubt because many are products of the Illinois education system.
Illinois has to find more and more ways to tax its citizens to fund the huge, underfunded pension obligation. This will go on for as far as the eye can see. The way it is currently set up Illinois will be the highest taxed state for generations to come.
This is the dumbest idea I’ve seen out of Springfield in a long time.
JB the Hutt is the king of dumb ideas. This is why the Pritzker clan pushed him out of Hyatt and into politics. Not to worry, The Hutt’s offshore trust funds are sprinkled with his cut of the Hyatt take.