The Breakdown
Why Is My Internet So Slow?
Small tubes good, big tubes better
Aaron Sankin
Investigative Reporter
Aaron Sankin reports on how technology can be used to harm marginalized people. His focus is on platform governance, online extremism, and regulatory policy.
Before The Markup, he covered online extremism for the Center for Investigative Reporting, where he launched the Hate Report newsletter and co-created the Hate Sleuths citizen journalism initiative. Before that, he was a senior staff writer at the Daily Dot and a founding editor of the Huffington Post’s San Francisco vertical.
His work has earned various awards, including a 2018 Public Radio News Directors Incorporated Award and a 2018 Webby Award. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Motley Fool, and Gizmodo.
Amazon’s Advantage
House Antitrust Committee Accuses Amazon of Lying to Congress, Asks DOJ to Investigate
As evidence, the committee cited The Markup’s investigation into Amazon’s preferencing of its own brands and exclusive products in search results
Allstate’s Algorithm
Newly Public Documents Allege Allstate Overcharged Loyal California Customers $1 billion
A 2020 Markup investigation found the company pursuing similar goals in other states
Amazon’s Advantage
Bill Seeking to Outlaw Self-Preferencing by Amazon, Google Clears Hurdle in Senate
The measure would address issues raised by multiple investigations from The Markup
Show Your WorkPrediction: Bias
How We Determined Crime Prediction Software Disproportionately Targeted Low-Income, Black, and Latino Neighborhoods
A trove of unsecured data allowed the first-ever independent analysis of actual crime predictions across the U.S. by the self-described software leader, PredPol
Prediction: Bias
Crime Prediction Software Promised to Be Free of Biases. New Data Shows It Perpetuates Them
Millions of crime predictions left on an unsecured server show PredPol mostly avoided Whiter neighborhoods, targeted Black and Latino neighborhoods
The Breakdown
What Does Facebook Mean When It Says It Supports “Internet Regulations”?
Since companies typically try to avoid regulation, Facebook’s support for it is weird. Or is it? There’s more to the company’s proposal than meets the eye
Google the Giant
In Response to The Markup’s Reporting, Some YouTubers Are Ditching the Platform
They said Google’s decision to block advertisers from seeing “Black Lives Matter” and other social justice YouTube videos was the last straw
Google the Giant
Google Blocks Advertisers from Targeting Black Lives Matter YouTube Videos
“Black power” and “Black Lives Matter” can't be used to find videos for ads, but “White power” and “White lives matter” were just fine
Show Your WorkGoogle the Giant
How We Discovered Google’s Social Justice Blocklist for YouTube Ad Placements
Despite committing to dismantling systemic racism, YouTube blocks advertisers from using many racial justice and cultural identity terms to target videos for ads
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