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How We Investigated Car Insurance Loopholes in Michigan
We found that Michigan’s reforms allowed auto insurers to charge higher rates in Black neighborhoods
Maddy Varner
Investigative Data Journalist
Maddy Varner was an investigative data journalist for The Markup. She left in May 2023.
Maddy extracts datasets from public documents and databases to help build a more concrete understanding of how organizations use technology to predict and affect behavior—and the problems in those assumptions.
Before The Markup, she was a researcher at ProPublica, where she was on a team that won a Loeb Award for Beat Reporting in 2017 for “Monetizing Hate,” a series of stories that examined Facebook’s ad practices.
The Breakdown
How Do I Prepare My Phone for a Protest? (Updated 2024)
Simple steps to take before hitting the streets
Working for an Algorithm
What Happens When Nurses Are Hired Like Ubers
“You basically just hope that nothing goes wrong,” a nurse said about a shift with the app Clipboard
Hello World
The Color of Data
Dyeing fabric might seem like the farthest thing from data journalism, but one artist used it to try to quantify pollution in her community
Show Your Work
How We Investigated L.A.’s Homelessness Scoring System
Year after year, White people have been rated highly “vulnerable” more often than Black people
L.A.’s Scoring System for Subsidized Housing Gives Black and Latino People Experiencing Homelessness Lower Priority Scores
An investigation by The Markup found racial disparities in L.A.’s intake system for unhoused people
Story Recipes
Journalists: Investigate Homeless Vulnerability Scoring in Your City
The survey we investigated was also used in dozens of other cities and counties, according to its creators. Here are our tips for looking into it
Working for an Algorithm
When Drivers Are Attacked, Uber Leaves Police Waiting for Help
An investigation by The Markup found that Uber is slow to respond to law enforcement requests, leaving drivers vulnerable to repeated attacks
Working for an Algorithm
More Than 350 Gig Workers Carjacked, 28 Killed, Over the Last Five Years
Meanwhile, Uber confirms 24,000 alleged physical assaults and threatened assaults against its drivers from 2017 to 2020
Citizen Browser
As Demand for Medication Abortion Increases, Facebook Allows Ads for Potentially Dangerous “Abortion Reversal” Procedure
The ads appear as the company faces criticism for limiting content about medication abortions
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