In 2025, Metric Media LLC executed a precise, data-driven editorial campaign designed to simulate the federal "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) initiative at the state level. Titled the "Illinois DOGE" series, this operation utilized automated content generation to publish thousands of articles targeting Illinois-based 501(c)(3) organizations. The campaign's structural objective was to reframe standard government grant disbursements as evidence of "waste, fraud, and abuse," specifically isolating nonprofits serving minority communities, LGBTQ+ populations, and immigrant groups.

The foundation of the Illinois DOGE series was not traditional reporting but an industrial-scale data extraction process. In 2025, Metric Media filed over 9,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests nationwide. Tow Center analysis confirms that 50 percent of these requests targeted Illinois entities. Unlike standard journalistic inquiries, these requests were algorithmic in nature, seeking raw vendor payment logs and grant recipient lists from state agencies like the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and the Illinois State Board of Education.