Challenging technology to serve the public good.
An engineer by training, Surya built tools and gathered data to tell stories about how algorithmic systems perpetuate systemic biases and inequalities in society. He left The Markup in August 2022.
Before The Markup, Surya was the data reporter at Gizmodo’s Special Projects Desk and a contributing researcher at ProPublica. He has also worked as a researcher at Bell Labs, Data & Society, and the MIT Media Lab.
At ProPublica, he was part of the team that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for the series “Machine Bias.” At Gizmodo, “The House that Spied on Me” won the National Press Foundation’s Technology in Journalism award and was also made into a TED talk.
Surya’s OpenPGP key fingerprint is 1710 BE3C B4AF 40A8 FA9F 20CE 9B98 0BE8 CCA5 ED64.
Show Your WorkPrediction: Bias
A trove of unsecured data allowed the first-ever independent analysis of actual crime predictions across the U.S. by the self-described software leader, PredPol
Prediction: Bias
Millions of crime predictions left on an unsecured server show PredPol mostly avoided Whiter neighborhoods, targeted Black and Latino neighborhoods
Show Your WorkCitizen Browser
We found that Facebook's popularity metric obscures how well ultra-conservative content does on the platform
Citizen Browser
Facebook insists that mainstream news sites perform the best on its platform. But by other measures, sensationalist, partisan content reigns
Citizen Browser
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'
Citizen Browser
The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform
Citizen Browser
The social media giant's powerful targeting tools appear to be part of Ben Shapiro’s success in growing his audience on the platform
Citizen Browser
Our Citizen Browser project found an array of proxies through which advertisers can target Black Facebook users, among other demographics
Citizen Browser
The company announced the policy as a way to stop spreading divisive content
Citizen Browser
As COVID-19 surged, the social media company pointed users to all sorts of anti-vaccine and anti-mask groups
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