Twitter is Still Throttling Competitors’ Links—Check for Yourself
Loading links to Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Substack takes far longer than to other sites. We built a tool so you can check any domain you like
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.
The BreakdownPrivacy
How to Quickly Get to the Important Truth Inside Any Privacy Policy
An investigative data journalist and a former tech lawyer teach you how to spot tricks and hidden disclosures within these interminable documents—and even how to claw back some privacy
Hello World
What Are “Data Clean Rooms”?
The dirt on data brokers’ latest privacy buzzword
Privacy
How Your Attention Is Auctioned Off to Advertisers
In mere milliseconds, online advertisers scrutinize your personal data and bid for your eyeballs
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
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
Privacy
Life360 Sued for Selling Location Data
A proposed class-action lawsuit cites Markup reporting and claims the family-tracking app did not get user consent to sell location data
Hello World
Special Database 18
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos of 1,573 people for decades, including 175 minors, until we asked about them
Privacy
Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You
When you use supermarket discount cards, you are sharing much more than what is in your cart—and grocery chains like Kroger are reaping huge profits selling this data to brands and advertisers
The Breakdown
We Joined Mastodon. Here’s What We Learned About Privacy and Security
As Elon Musk sends Twitter into chaos, we’re sharing what we picked up about Mastodon as we selected a server
Page 1 of 6