Article Archive - The Markup

Hello World

What Are “Data Clean Rooms”?

The dirt on data brokers’ latest privacy buzzword

July 1, 2023 8:00 a.m. UTC

A digital illustration in bright copic marker and pencil shows a repetitive dollar-sign motif with two solid circles overlapping in the center of the image. Where they overlap, there is a binary-code pattern of zeroes and 1s, which represents information shared digitally. Two hands reach out of the digital space. The hand on the left holds a bag of over-the-counter products. The hand on the right holds a smartphone with an app open, showing sponsored advertisements for the same products in the bag to the left.

Pixel Hunt

Need to Get Plan B or an HIV Test Online? Facebook May Know About It

Twelve of the largest drug stores in the U.S. sent shoppers’ sensitive health information to Facebook or other platforms, according to an investigation by The Markup and KFF Health News

June 30, 2023 8:00 a.m. UTC

Digital illustration of a photo collage, with various vignettes of maps. There are shadows of a person hunched over and leaning against a wall.

The Government Has a Controversial Idea to Track Mental Health Crisis Calls

Why the national 988 hotline may start pinpointing callers

June 24, 2023 8:00 a.m. UTC

Digital illustration of a hologram of a person's head, with glowing blobs emitting around it. The hologram is surrounded by bean characters who are staring at it.

Privacy

How Your Attention Is Auctioned Off to Advertisers

In mere milliseconds, online advertisers scrutinize your personal data and bid for your eyeballs

June 23, 2023 9:00 a.m. UTC

Illustration of a greyed out web browser showing a hospital portal. A white hand behind it is pulling off a strip of the browser and pills are falling out of that strip. There is a blue glow behind the edge of the browser window.

Inside The Markup

The Markup Wins Digiday Media Award

Our investigation into hospitals sending sensitive information to Facebook won “Best Story”

June 20, 2023 4:32 p.m. UTC

Digital illustration of a woman, with her left hand holding her elbow. There are magnifying glasses to each side of her showing a closeup of her X-ray, but the image is being dissolved into pixels.

Hello World

An AI Diagnosed Her with Breast Cancer. Then She Ran an Experiment to See How Accurate It Was

A conversation with Meredith Broussard

June 17, 2023 8:00 a.m. UTC

Surreal digital illustration of various vignettes and closeups of people in pain and suffering. At the center of the composition is a phone showing a text conversation with a crisis center.

Pixel Hunt

Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook

The Markup found many sites tied to the national mental health crisis hotline transmitted information on visitors through the Meta Pixel

June 13, 2023 6:00 a.m. UTC

image with purple/blue background with starts in the sky of a child on a bed looking at a computer generated catepillar

Hello World

The Very Hungry Algorithm: Bedtime with ChatGPT

Balancing enthusiasm and fear in the age of AI

June 10, 2023 8:00 a.m. UTC

Photo collage of Long Van Nguyen (left) and Hai Nguyen (right). In the background is a YouTube thumbnail of one of Sonia Ohlala’s videos, featuring an image of Donald Trump.

Languages of Misinformation

Vietnamese YouTuber Is Filling Information Voids with Newsmax and Breitbart

How one Vietnamese community depends on YouTube for news, and what that tells us about the unmet needs of immigrant enclaves

June 9, 2023 12:00 p.m. UTC

Digital illustration of scientists analyzing a wall filled with boxes containing human heads. Some scientists have clipboards, others are picking up the heads off the shelves.

Privacy

From “Heavy Purchasers” of Pregnancy Tests to the Depression-Prone: We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You

A spreadsheet on ad platform Xandr’s website revealed a massive collection of “audience segments” used to target consumers based on highly specific, sometimes intimate information and inferences

June 8, 2023 6:00 a.m. UTC

All Articles

What Are “Data Clean Rooms”?

Need to Get Plan B or an HIV Test Online? Facebook May Know About It

The Government Has a Controversial Idea to Track Mental Health Crisis Calls

How Your Attention Is Auctioned Off to Advertisers

The Markup Wins Digiday Media Award

An AI Diagnosed Her with Breast Cancer. Then She Ran an Experiment to See How Accurate It Was

Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook

The Very Hungry Algorithm: Bedtime with ChatGPT

Vietnamese YouTuber Is Filling Information Voids with Newsmax and Breitbart

From “Heavy Purchasers” of Pregnancy Tests to the Depression-Prone: We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You