Investigations

How Meta Brings in Millions Off Political Violence

CalMatters and The Markup used Facebook’s AI model to count the millions of dollars it makes after violent news events

Premium Penalty

Michigan’s “Fair and Reasonable” Reforms Allowed Car Insurers to Charge More in Black Neighborhoods

An investigation by The Markup and Outlier Media found lawmakers created loopholes big enough to drive through

Automated Censorship

Demoted, Deleted, and Denied: There’s More Than Just Shadowbanning on Instagram

An investigation by The Markup found that the platform demoted images of the Israel–Hamas war, deleted captions without warning, and denied users the option to appeal

Organ Failure

A Death Sentence: Native Americans Shut Out of the Nation’s Liver Transplant System

Despite being more likely to die of liver disease, Native Americans are far less likely to make the transplant list than White people

Privacy

Each Facebook User is Monitored by Thousands of Companies

A new study looks at who is sending information about your online activity to Facebook

Machine Learning

Plagiarism Detection Tools Offer a False Sense of Accuracy

The tools that likely brought down Harvard president Claudine Gay are improperly used on students all the time

Pixel Hunt

Facebook Watches Teens Online As They Prep for College

An investigation by The Markup found Meta’s pixel tracking students from kindergarten to college

News

Twitter Is Throttling Patreon Links, Creators Say It Undermines Their Livelihood

Markup readers helped uncover the link delays, which also affect WhatsApp and Messenger

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

Machine Learning

False Alarm: How Wisconsin Uses Race and Income to Label Students “High Risk”

The Markup found the state’s decade-old dropout prediction algorithms don’t work and may be negatively influencing how educators perceive students of color