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
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.
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
Google the Giant
Google Has a Secret Blocklist that Hides YouTube Hate Videos from Advertisers—But It’s Full of Holes
Many well-known White supremacist and White nationalist terms and slogans were not blocked
Show Your WorkGoogle the Giant
How We Discovered Google’s Hate Blocklist for Ad Placements on YouTube
We got under the hood of Google Ads and found poorly executed limitations meant to hide hate YouTube videos and channels from advertisers
Privacy
I Tried to Use the Ad Tech Industry’s Tool to Opt Out of Personalized Ads. Did It Work?
Let’s just say it leaves a lot to be desired
Allstate’s Algorithm
Michigan Regulators Question Allstate’s Car Insurance Pricing
The agency is raising the same issues we found in our investigation of Allstate's proposed algorithm in Maryland
News
Facebook Removes Holocaust Denial Pages Following The Markup’s Report
We had found a network of anti-Semitic groups on the platform
News
Facebook Said It Would Ban Holocaust Deniers. Instead, Its Algorithm Provided a Network for Them
Anti-Semitic groups are still flourishing on Facebook
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