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4.6.6
Watching Big Tech.
During her toddler’s surgery, a researcher wanted copies of the consent forms she just signed, but the staff was preventing her from getting it. What followed was a maze of refusals, misinformation, and dead ends that exposed just how broken the process really is 👉https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2025/07/19/patient-data-use
Students don’t have the same incentives to talk to their professors or even their classmates anymore — Instead, they are asking AI for help. What could go wrong? https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/07/16/ai-is-helping-students-be-more-independent-but-the-isolation-could-be-career-poison
The bot couldn't:
Describe a given wildfire’s containment accurately
Provide a list for evacuation supplies
Tell users about evacuation orders
What else we found: https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/07/09/californias-fire-protection-agency-made-an-ai-chatbot-dont-ask-it-about-evacuation-orders
Schools and lawmakers are grappling with how to address a new form of peer-on-peer image-based sexual abuse that disproportionately targets girls.
With The 19th: https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/07/02/kids-are-making-deepfakes-of-each-other-and-laws-arent-keeping-up
The U.S. Senate voted not to interfere with state AI regulations, defeating a 10-year moratorium on such laws that had earlier cleared the House and alarmed California officials. https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/07/01/state-ai-regulations-safe-after-senate-strips-moratorium-from-big-beautiful-bill
NEW: Colleges and universities renew Turnitin subscriptions year after year even though its flawed detectors are expensive and require students to let the company keep their papers forever. https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/06/26/ai-detector-california
Citing an investigation by The Markup and CalMatters, lawmakers in the House of Representatives are questioning why California’s state health insurance exchange shared sensitive health data with LinkedIn. https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2025/06/23/house-lawmakers-demand-answers-from-california-health-exchange-on-sending-data-to-linkedin
LAPD and the counties of San Diego, Orange, and Riverside have repeatedly shared automated license plate reader data to federal agencies. https://themarkup.org/privacy/2025/06/18/california-police-are-illegally-sharing-license-plate-data-with-ice-and-border-patrol
Is there anything I can do to stop my information from being leaked this way? The answer is yes 👇 https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2025/06/17/this-is-how-you-stop-data-trackers-from-sucking-up-your-health-data
State healthcare sites have been quietly sending sensitive user data to Google and LinkedIn.
We scanned the websites of states that independently operate their own online health exchange, and found four states — Nevada, Maine, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts — exposed users’ sensitive health info. Our findings: https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2025/06/17/we-caught-4-more-states-sharing-personal-health-data-with-big-tech
Following our investigation with Outlier Media, a new bill wants to ban the use of location and credit-based scores to set auto insurance prices. https://themarkup.org/premium-penalty/2025/06/11/house-bill-targets-loopholes-that-let-car-insurance-companies-charge-more-in-black-neighborhoods
NYC is using AI to flag child abuse cases. But some factors used are largely out of a caretaker’s control, such as the neighborhood they live in. https://themarkup.org/investigations/2025/05/20/the-nyc-algorithm-deciding-which-families-are-under-watch-for-child-abuse
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
The Markup's automated censorship investigation is a finalist for the 2025 Sigma Awards 🎉
The investigation found that Instagram demoted images of the Israel–Hamas war, deleted captions without warning, and denied users the option to appeal.
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
With input from a Stanford lab, Common Sense Media concludes the AI systems can exacerbate problems like addiction and self harm. https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2025/04/30/kids-should-avoid-ai-companion-bots-under-force-of-law-assessment-says
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
Using an alphanumeric passcode for your phone instead of a fingerprint or face lock can protect your data legally and physically. Other things you should know: https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2024/05/04/how-do-i-prepare-my-phone-for-a-protest-updated-2024
Would you want Facebook to know if you visited a suicide hotline?
Our investigation from June 2023 found that over 30 suicide hotline websites sent visitor data to Facebook. That story has now become a finalist for a NIHCM award!
Revisit the story: https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/06/13/suicide-hotlines-promise-anonymity-dozens-of-their-websites-send-sensitive-data-to-facebook