The Markup challenges technology to serve the public good.

Our journalism is actionable and drives real-world impact. Explore our investigations, tools, and blueprints to see how.

This Just In

‘We’re basically pushers:’ How a battle over kids on social media is unfolding in two California courtrooms

Lawsuits in California federal and state court are unearthing documents embarrassing to tech companies — and may be a tipping point into federal regulation.

Protect yourself: Use Our Game Safety Buddy to Protect Your Kids and Yourself on Gaming Consoles

Protect yourself: We Tested Kids’ Smart Toys for Privacy. Here’s How You Can, Too

Blacklight, our privacy inspector tool, now tracks X and TikTok pixels

We’ve updated Blacklight, our popular privacy tool, to check for TikTok and X trackers.

Illustration of multiple identical green figures in white collars and red ties waving at the camera in overlapping video call windows; they all have 8-bit style smiley faces and 6 fingers

We posted a job. Then came the AI slop, impersonator and recruiter scam

Red flags that both job seekers and employers should watch for, in an era of AI slop and application scams

A dancing group poses in sync, their arms arched, standing in formation on a stage in a dark dance studio. In the background is a black backdrop with LED lights hanging on metal railing rigs.

Generative AI is eating culture. See how close it’s getting to disrupting dance

Dancers say their craft can’t be duplicated by AI. Our tests show they’re right — for now.

Show your work: How we tested and evaluated AI-generated dance videos

A view from behind of two rows of cars sitting idle during a traffic jam on a road.

California police are illegally sharing license plate data with ICE and Border Patrol

LAPD and the counties of San Diego, Orange, and Riverside have repeatedly shared automated license plate reader data to federal agencies

A person in a dark coat and light blue tie speaks at a wooden podium outdoors, smiling slightly as a microphone stands in front of them, with the pale yellow facade and white railing of a government building blurred in the background.

Mamdani to kill the NYC AI chatbot we caught telling businesses to break the law

New York mayor says terminating the ‘unusable’ bot will help close a budget gap

Original Investigation: NYC’s AI Chatbot Tells Businesses to Break the Law

Illustration of an array of red and white dating profiles showing silhouettes of men

Dating App Rape Survivors File Lawsuit Accusing Hinge, Tinder of “Accommodating Rapists”

The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday, citing the Dating App Reporting Project, argues that dating apps could kick off serial rapists, but don’t.

Original Investigation: Dating App Cover-Up: How Tinder, Hinge, and Their Corporate Owner Keep Rape Under Wraps

A lawmaker, with short blonde hair and wearing black blazer with a purple-patterned scarf, sits behind a dais during a legislative meeting. Other people can be seen in the background.

Data brokers face new pressure for hiding opt-out pages from Google

After reporters found dozens of firms hiding privacy tools from search results, US senator Maggie Hassan insists the companies explain their practices—and pledge to improve access to privacy controls.

Original Investigation: We caught companies making it harder to delete your personal data online

Help us help you change the world. The Markup relies on donations to power our work. Give today and let’s change the world together.

Donate Now

Pink-tinted photograph of a dancing group posing in sync, their arms arched, standing in formation on a stage in a dark dance studio; the background is a black backdrop with LED lights hanging on metal railing rigs

How we tested and evaluated AI-generated dance videos

None of the videos produced by the leading AI platforms showed the actual dances we requested.

Illustration of a woman on her laptop, set against a background of a browser window; the image is heavily manipulated to be pixelated in a bitmap style

This is how you stop data trackers from sucking up your health data

The Markup and CalMatters found multiple ways consumers can block the trackers quietly sending your data to tech companies, including those used on state-run health exchange websites.