''The Markup'' is an American

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

news publication focused on the impact of technology on society. Founded in 2018 with the goal of advancing

data-driven journalism Data journalism or data-driven journalism (DDJ) is a journalistic process based on analyzing and filtering large data sets for the purpose of creating or elevating a news story. Data journalism is a type of journalism reflecting the increased ...

, the publication is headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

History

''The Markup'' was co-founded by two former

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...

journalists

Julia Angwin Julia Angwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and entrepreneur. She is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the impact of technology ...

and Jeff Larson, and executive and journalist

Sue Gardner Sue Gardner (born May 11, 1967) is a Canadian journalist, not-for-profit executive and business executive. She was the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation from December 2007 until May 2014, and before that was the director of the Can ...

. The project was announced in April 2018, with an expected launch in early 2019. Like ProPublica, all of their content will be licensed under a

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

. According to Angwin, in 2018, the portal planned to collect and create public datasets through

public records Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the optio ...

requests, automated data collection,

crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

information, and creating tools. In April 2019, Gardner fired Angwin as editor-in-chief. Larson was named as her replacement. In a letter to

Craig Newmark Craig Alexander Newmark (born December 6, 1952) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the founder of the classifieds website Craigslist. Prior to founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for companie ...

, The Markup's largest donor, Angwin asked him to intervene, claiming she was pushed out after resisting Gardner's attempts to change The Markup's mission to "one based on advocacy against the tech companies." Six out of seven journalists on staff resigned following Angwin's ouster. Gardner denied changing the mission, telling ''The New York Times,'' "We are, pure and simple, a news outlet, we always have been and always will be. Our goals and purpose haven’t changed." According to Larson and Gardner, the reasons for Angwin's ouster had instead included disagreements over the non-journalistic responsibilities of Angwin's role as an executive, such as the organization falling behind in its hiring plans and the launch timeline. A month later, Newmark announced that Gardner and Larson had left The Markup, and there were reports about plans to bring back Angwin as editor-in-chief. On August 6, 2019, The Markup announced that Julia Angwin would return as editor-in-chief, along with

Nabiha Syed Nabiha Syed is an American technology lawyer and media executive. Syed is currently the chief executive officer of ''The Markup'', a data-driven journalism outlet. She has been described as "one of the best emerging free speech lawyers" by ''Forbe ...

as president and much of the original team – but without Larson or Gardner. Syed was previously

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

’s general counsel and vice president.

Funding

The Markup received a $20 million gift from

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...

founder

. The Markup also raised $2 million from the

Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

and an additional $1 million from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

, and ''The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative''.

Coverage and impact

2022 reporting on Meta and tax preparation companies

In November 2022, an investigation by ''The Markup'' revealed that tax filing companies including

H&R Block H&R Block, Inc., or H&R Block, is an American tax preparation company operating in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company was founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch. As of 2018, H&R Block operates approximat ...

TaxSlayer TaxSlayer LLC (formerly known as TaxSlayer.com) is a privately held tax preparation and financial technology company based in Augusta, Georgia. The company offers online tax preparation technology for American consumers and tax professionals, allo ...

, and

TaxAct TaxAct Holdings, Inc. is an American tax preparation software company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company offers its own software package "TaxAct" to individual tax registers, companies and professional affiliates. The company was founded in ...

have shared users' financial information with

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

parent company

Meta Meta (from the Greek μετά, '' meta'', meaning "after" or "beyond") is a prefix meaning "more comprehensive" or "transcending". In modern nomenclature, ''meta''- can also serve as a prefix meaning self-referential, as a field of study or ende ...

. In response, a class action lawsuit was filed by H&R Block customers against Meta, who accused the tech company of violating users' privacy rights. Senator

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

and representatives

Katie Porter Katherine Moore Porter (born January 3, 1974) is an American politician, law professor, and lawyer who is the U.S. representative from California's 45th congressional district since 2019. She is the first Democrat to be elected to represent the ...

and

Brad Sherman Bradley James Sherman (born October 24, 1954) is an American accountant and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in 19 ...

sent letters to the tax companies, as well as Meta and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, to warn against such behavior.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Markup, The 2018 establishments in New York City American journalism organizations American technology news websites Data journalism Mass media companies based in New York City Mass media companies established in 2018 Mass media in New York City Non-profit organizations based in New York City Technology websites