Notices by The Markup (themarkup@mastodon.themarkup.org)

NEW: House Republicans advanced a 10-year moratorium on state AI rules. California would be especially hard hit. https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/05/16/congress-moves-to-cut-off-states-ai-regulations

UPDATE: One day after an investigation by CalMatters and The Markup, LinkedIn and Google were hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging they improperly received confidential data from trackers on California’s health insurance exchange website. https://themarkup.org/impact/2025/05/02/after-markup-investigation-linkedin-and-google-face-lawsuit-alleging-improper-access-to-health-data

Californians: this state health insurance site has been sending your sensitive info to private companies like LinkedIn using trackers that record info like pregnancy and whether some experienced domestic abuse.

We investigated how this is happening with CalMatters: https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2025/04/28/how-california-sent-residents-personal-health-data-to-linkedin

Almost all students seem to be using AI to help do their homework, and there’s virtually no reliable way for teachers to detect when this happens.

How to change that, in a high schooler’s own words: https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2025/03/08/a-high-school-student-explains-how-educators-can-adapt-to-ai

Have an Amazon Echo? Everything you say to it will be going to Amazon and used to bolster its new generative AI version of Alexa.

By WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-march-28/

Dating apps like Tinder and Hinge have known for years which users have been reported for assaulting their dates. But their corporate owner is keeping you in the dark.

Our latest investigation: https://themarkup.org/investigations/2025/02/13/dating-app-tinder-hinge-cover-up

In their own words, here’s what five high schoolers—in California, Michigan, and Texas—have dealt with: https://bit.ly/42wPmYk

Schools’ web filters are supposed to block porn. Instead, they block useful info and prevent students from learning.

And most students can find their way to access an unfiltered internet anyway: https://bit.ly/42wIdYj

Our previous investigation has found that real-world violence can mean new revenue opportunities for Meta: the company saw a 450% increase in Israel-related ad dollars since the attack on October 7th. https://themarkup.org/investigations/2024/10/04/how-meta-brings-in-millions-off-political-violence

LA passed housing reforms to make the process more equitable after we exposed racial bias in the city’s housing intake system. https://themarkup.org/impact/2024/02/15/l-a-is-changing-how-it-scores-vulnerability-of-unhoused-people

We pride ourselves on our journalism being actionable and having real-world impact. In 2024, we continued to do exactly that. Here are some examples 🧶👇 https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/12/14/our-real-world-impact-in-2024

Instagram restored content that it banned after we investigated the platform’s suppression of posts related to the Israel-Hamas war. https://themarkup.org/automated-censorship/2024/02/25/demoted-deleted-and-denied-theres-more-than-just-shadowbanning-on-instagram

Groups that defend students and advocate against online surveillance filed a federal lawsuit after we revealed that the Department of Education was sharing sensitive student data with Facebook.https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2024/07/26/department-of-education-sued-following-markup-investigation-into-fafsa-data-shared-with-facebook

After we reported that mortgage brokers were sending people’s estimated credit, address, and veteran status to Facebook, some companies immediately stopped doing so. https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2024/05/15/mortgage-brokers-sent-peoples-estimated-credit-address-and-veteran-status-to-facebook

NYC’s chatbot, which we found was frequently telling businesses to break the law, was quietly updated with a disclaimer that users should “not use its responses as legal or professional advice.” https://themarkup.org/news/2024/04/02/malfunctioning-nyc-ai-chatbot-still-active-despite-widespread-evidence-its-encouraging-illegal-behavior

The hardest part is not getting an anonymous phone, but staying off the grid afterwards. Some golden rules: https://themarkup.org/levelup/2023/10/25/without-a-trace-how-to-take-your-phone-off-the-grid

Is a *truly* anonymous phone possible? Yes, if you’re willing to go the extra mile to get there.

How 👉 https://themarkup.org/levelup/2023/10/25/without-a-trace-how-to-take-your-phone-off-the-grid

One in six congresswomen are victims of deepfakes, according to recent findings.

The 19th news looks at the evolving risks for women in politics and public life: https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2024/12/11/1-in-6-congresswomen-targeted-by-ai-generated-sexually-explicit-deepfakes

San Francisco enacted a first-in-the-nation ban that restricts landlords from using AI to set rent prices. Other cities are catching up. https://themarkup.org/locked-out/2024/12/02/landlords-are-using-ai-to-raise-rents-and-cities-are-starting-to-push-back

TL;DR: Keep your plans private and try not to leave a digital trail.

That could mean making temporary email addresses, using a private browser, and keeping your phone at home when traveling. https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2024/11/14/privacy-guide-go-incognito