Jon Keegan

Investigative Data Journalist

Jon Keegan is passionate about revealing the hidden patterns created by our interactions with the big platforms. He is happiest when his computer’s fan is running full-tilt while collecting millions of rows of data.

Before The Markup, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, researching signals of trust in online news and studying the role of AI in journalism. He also worked at The Wall Street Journal for 18 years, where he ran the interactive graphics team.

Jon’s work has won several journalism awards, including the Loeb Award, the Society of Professional Journalists’ Excellence in Journalism Award and the Society of News Design’s Best of Digital Gold Award.

keegan@themarkup.org @jonkeegan

Multiple irises featuring teenagers on location maps. In the background there is a network of circles with dollar signs on them.

Privacy

The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users

The app is a major source of raw location data for a multibillion-dollar industry that buys, packages, and sells people’s movements

December 6, 2021 08:00 ET

A scowling "smiley face" surrounded by blue and red circles of numbers.

Show Your WorkCitizen Browser

How We Investigated Facebook’s Most Popular Content

We found that Facebook's popularity metric obscures how well ultra-conservative content does on the platform

November 18, 2021 08:00 ET

Citizen Browser

Facebook Isn’t Telling You How Popular Right-Wing Content Is on the Platform

Facebook insists that mainstream news sites perform the best on its platform. But by other measures, sensationalist, partisan content reigns

November 18, 2021 08:00 ET

Illustration of several abstract characters standing in a maze of stairs. Location pins and coins are scattered throughout the piece.

Privacy

Help Us Find the Apps That Sell Your Location

Send us screenshots or share your knowledge of the location data industry

October 7, 2021 08:00 ET

Privacy

There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data

A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people’s movements

September 30, 2021 08:00 ET

Citizen Browser

Germany’s Far-Right Political Party, the AfD, Is Dominating Facebook This Election

Ahead of a national vote this month, Citizen Browser data shows that posts promoting the AfD party appeared more than three times as often as rivals'

September 22, 2021 08:00 ET

Illustration of jumbled Facebook like icons, blue clouds, squiggles, and junk code. Disparate eyes, ears and magnifying glasses are scattered throughout the art.

Citizen Browser

Facebook Rolls Out News Feed Change That Blocks Watchdogs from Gathering Data

The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform

September 21, 2021 08:00 ET

Ben Shapiro speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference

Citizen Browser

How The Daily Wire Uses Facebook’s Targeted Advertising to Build Its Brand

The social media giant's powerful targeting tools appear to be part of Ben Shapiro’s success in growing his audience on the platform

August 10, 2021 08:00 ET

Anti-Semitic Merchandise Persists on Pinterest, Despite Restrictions

The Markup found dozens of pins containing hateful content, which raises fresh questions about the platform’s content moderation strategy

August 6, 2021 08:00 ET

Cynthia Norman stands against a brick wall, sunglasses on, with her hands folded below her breasts.

Working for an Algorithm

Uber And Lyft Drivers Are Being Carjacked at Alarming Rates

The Markup confirmed 124 carjackings and attempted carjackings of ride-hail drivers across the country. Drivers say the companies are doing little to help

July 22, 2021 08:00 ET

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