public audio, radio, podcast, and advertising company
iHeartMedia
Industry Entertainment
A public audio company operating iHeartRadio, broadcast radio stations, podcasts, live events, and advertising technology. iHeartMedia remains weak because broad free audio access is tied to listener profiling, market concentration, attention capture, advertising dependence, and material opacity.
Why this matters: iHeartMedia is a major audio competitor against Spotify, SiriusXM/Pandora, broadcast radio, podcasts, and music streaming services.
Letter grade F Malignant Medium confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
iHeartMedia receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $960K on public policy issues.
Evidence: [12]
Request verification to have the evidence record checked against primary materials and organization-supplied documents. Verification does not buy a higher score; scores change only when review finds factual errors, omissions, or miscalibration.
Evaluation Overview
F - Malignant
The score turns mainly on Product Integrity, with the largest penalty coming from Policy Capture.
Strengths
- Product Integrity3/5
- Extraction2/10
- Solidarity with the Unemployed2/7
Penalties
- Policy Capture-4
- Surveillance Capture-4
- Youth Capture-2
- Accountability Opacity-2
Evidence state
- ConfidenceMedium confidence (AI)
- ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
- Linked claims12
- Direct axis claims11
- Coverage11/17
Scoring Axes
| Axis | Score | Why this score |
|---|---|---|
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control
at 10.
|
1 / 10 |
iHeartMedia is controlled by shareholders, private owners, or platform managers rather than by viewers, listeners, artists, creators, subscribers, or affected communities. Linked evidence
|
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic
stakeholder control at 10.
|
1 / 10 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured
extraction judgment.
|
2 / 10 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at
7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence
shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling,
retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of
worker voice, or extreme turnover.
|
1 / 7 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Solidarity with the
Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment,
and non-competes.
|
2 / 7 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and
public obligations.
|
1 / 7 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
|
2 / 5 |
iHeartMedia competes in streaming and attention markets where catalogs, recommendations, bundles, advertising, device placement, app stores, exclusives, and switching costs shape user choice beyond simple product quality. Linked evidence
|
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
|
3 / 5 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
|
2 / 5 |
iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules. Linked evidence
|
Penalties
| Penalty | Applied | Why this penalty |
|---|---|---|
Ecological Harm
?
Footprint, trajectory, irreversibility, culpability, and scale,
including whether ecological harm is central to the model and continued
after credible notice. Range: -30 to 0.
|
-1 |
iHeartMedia carries environmental burden through data centers, network delivery, devices, advertising infrastructure, production, events, and hardware or e-waste where applicable. Linked evidence
|
Policy Capture
?
Private-interest attempts to bend law, regulation, subsidies, taxes,
enforcement, trade, labor, safety, competition, environmental,
healthcare, housing, surveillance, civil-liberties, or consumer policy
against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, or
ecological life. Public-interest advocacy is not penalized merely
because it is lobbying. Range: -15 to 0.
|
-4 |
OpenLobby records IHEARTMEDIA lobbying on tax, MIA, technology with about $960K in spending across 34 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role. Linked evidence
|
Youth Capture
?
Manipulative youth-directed marketing, youth-data or attention
monetization, collectible/add-on traps, parasocial or identity capture,
surprise mechanics, or treating young people as lower-disclosure
consumers. Making useful toys or welcoming children is not itself
penalized. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-2 |
iHeartMedia reaches children, teens, or young adults through entertainment brands, music, creators, sports, animation, recommendations, fandom, or household screens. Linked evidence
|
Subscription Capture
?
Manipulative recurring-payment, automatic-renewal,
cancellation-friction, bundling, trial-conversion, or refund designs
that profit from inertia or confusion. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-1 |
iHeartMedia uses recurring subscriptions, bundles, free trials, cancellations, loyalty inertia, catalog exclusives, account libraries, or device/platform dependence that make exit harder than a clean one-time purchase. Linked evidence
|
Accountability Opacity
?
Material opacity, reputation laundering, or hidden accountability
structures that prevent public accountability. Range: -2 to 0.
|
-2 |
iHeartMedia publishes terms and privacy materials, but ordinary users cannot easily compare tracking, recommendation logic, advertising uses, cancellation effects, creator payouts, bundle pricing, and catalog volatility before subscribing or watching. Linked evidence
|
Identity Capture
?
Customer pressure, employee pressure, and pervasive identity saturation.
Range: -3 to 0.
|
-2 |
iHeartMedia turns media consumption into fandom, lifestyle, taste identity, sports allegiance, youth culture, creator attachment, or brand belonging beyond ordinary entertainment choice. Linked evidence
|
Surveillance Capture
?
Invasive surveillance, unreasonably non-optional tracking, facial
recognition, biometric identification, or AI behavior scanning of
customers, workers, bystanders, or the public. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-4 |
iHeartMedia collects or processes viewing, listening, device, account, advertising, location, interaction, search, demographic, or preference data through streaming, apps, websites, connected TVs, or creator tools. Linked evidence
|
Ideological Disavowal
?
Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional
necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or
non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.
|
-1 |
iHeartMedia presents entertainment access as neutral choice while underplaying the institutional power of recommendations, catalogs, ad targeting, subscription design, creator bargaining, and attention capture. Linked evidence
|
Bonus Credits
No bonus credits applied in this version.
Confidence Basis
Confidence Basis
Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.
Medium 73/100
11 verified linked claims 11 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 11/17 components covered
This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.
Claim confidence 13/20
11 verified linked claims
Source quality 16/18
Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability
Direct axis-specific claims 9/18
11 direct claims across 17 active components
Dispute load 12/12
0 disputed claims on this entity
Recency 10/10
Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026
Reviewer status 7/12
Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding
Component coverage 6/10
11/17 evidence-bearing components have direct support
Evidence State
Evidence State
Claims and Sources
Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.1iHeartMedia is controlled by shareholders, private owners, or platform managers rather than by viewers, listeners, artists, creators, subscribers, or affected communities.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
2iHeartMedia provides entertainment, streaming, audio, video, discovery, creator, or personal-media services with real cultural value, while still shaping access through accounts, feeds, subscriptions, advertising, or platform rules.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
3iHeartMedia competes in streaming and attention markets where catalogs, recommendations, bundles, advertising, device placement, app stores, exclusives, and switching costs shape user choice beyond simple product quality.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
4iHeartMedia carries environmental burden through data centers, network delivery, devices, advertising infrastructure, production, events, and hardware or e-waste where applicable.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
5iHeartMedia reaches children, teens, or young adults through entertainment brands, music, creators, sports, animation, recommendations, fandom, or household screens.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
6iHeartMedia uses recurring subscriptions, bundles, free trials, cancellations, loyalty inertia, catalog exclusives, account libraries, or device/platform dependence that make exit harder than a clean one-time purchase.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
7iHeartMedia publishes terms and privacy materials, but ordinary users cannot easily compare tracking, recommendation logic, advertising uses, cancellation effects, creator payouts, bundle pricing, and catalog volatility before subscribing or watching.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
8iHeartMedia turns media consumption into fandom, lifestyle, taste identity, sports allegiance, youth culture, creator attachment, or brand belonging beyond ordinary entertainment choice.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
9iHeartMedia collects or processes viewing, listening, device, account, advertising, location, interaction, search, demographic, or preference data through streaming, apps, websites, connected TVs, or creator tools.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
10iHeartMedia presents entertainment access as neutral choice while underplaying the institutional power of recommendations, catalogs, ad targeting, subscription design, creator bargaining, and attention capture.
- iHeartMedia annual reportsPrimary institutional record · 90%
- iHeartMedia privacy policyOfficial self-description · 68%
- iHeartMedia company overviewGeneral web source · 58%
11OpenLobby records IHEARTMEDIA lobbying on tax, MIA, technology with about $960K in spending across 34 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role.
- OpenLobby — IHEARTMEDIA lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%
12iHeartMedia receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $960K on public policy issues.
- OpenLobby — IHEARTMEDIA lobbying profileGeneral web source · 58%
Help Improve This Profile
Submit source-backed evidence or challenge a specific claim, source, axis value, or calculation below.
How This Page Is Maintained
Evidence comes in through contributors, is checked by verifiers, and is synthesized by reviewers. Founder authority remains narrow and visible; scores recalculate when verified claims or the rubric change.
Civic Note
Incorporation, limited liability, market access, and other institutional privileges are public grants. Good Companies Directory treats those privileges as conditional on accountability to workers, users, communities, and the public.
Submit evidence for iHeartMedia Add one source-backed fact for review.
Challenge this rating Point to a specific score, claim, source, or calculation problem.
Audit Log
Recent public changes for this company or group. The full audit log is part of the Transparency record.
No company-specific audit entries have been published yet.
View Full Audit Log