Banned Bounty
Quiz: Can You Spot the Banned Amazon Item?
Amazon content moderators have only a few minutes to decide if a product is on the list of nearly 2,000 banned items
Sam Morris
Graphics Editor
Sam Morris is an editorial designer, art director, and developer who helps make complex stories and issues more accessible.
Before joining The Markup, he worked at The Guardian, on both the product and editorial sides.
His work has earned various awards presented by design and journalism organizations, including D&AD, Webby, The Society for News Design, The Society of Publication Designers, Communication Arts, Information Is Beautiful, and more.
Banned Bounty
Amazon’s Enforcement Failures Leave Open a Back Door to Banned Goods—Some Sold and Shipped by Amazon Itself
The online giant bans products related to drugs, spying and weapons, but we found plenty for sale; one of the items bought on the site left a grim trail of overdoses
Locked Out
Access Denied: Faulty Automated Background Checks Freeze Out Renters
Computer algorithms that scan everything from terror watch lists to eviction records spit out flawed tenant screening reports. And almost nobody is watching
Show Your WorkCoronavirus
How We Analyzed States’ Coronavirus Testing Plans
Google the Giant
Swinging the Vote?
Google’s black box algorithm controls which political emails land in your main inbox. For 2020 presidential candidates, the differences are stark.
Allstate’s Algorithm
Suckers List: How Allstate’s Secret Auto Insurance Algorithm Squeezes Big Spenders
Insurers are supposed to price based on risk, but Allstate’s algorithm put a thumb on the scale