In Google’s early years, users would type in a query and get back a page of 10 “blue links” that led to different websites. “We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible,” co-founder Larry Pagesaid in 2004.Today, Google often considers that “right place” to be Google, an investigation by The Markup has found.more than 15,000 recent popular queries and found that Google devoted 41 percent of the first page of search results on mobile devices to its own properties and what it calls “,” which are populated with information copied from other sources,...…In Google’s early years, users would type in a query and get back a page of 10 “blue links” that led to different websites. “We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible,” co-founder Larry Pagesaid in 2004.Today, Google often considers that “right place” to be Google, an investigation by The Markup has found.more than 15,000 recent popular queries and found that Google devoted 41 percent of the first page of search results on mobile devices to its own properties and what it calls “,” which are populated with information copied from other sources,...WW…

By Jon KeeganViewable online atRebecca Jones, of London, recently pulled up Amazon.co.uk to search for a phone adapter. She was reading through the reviews for one she was considering buying, when suddenly she started noticing mentions of what a great taco holder the product was. “The taco holder got great reviews, but there wasn’t much for my phone adapter,” said Jones by email. “You do sometimes see reviews for slightly different items appear on a listing, but this was definitely a new one for me.”Jones had likely stumbled across something called “review hijacking”—a way that...…By Jon KeeganViewable online atRebecca Jones, of London, recently pulled up Amazon.co.uk to search for a phone adapter. She was reading through the reviews for one she was considering buying, when suddenly she started noticing mentions of what a great taco holder the product was. “The taco holder got great reviews, but there wasn’t much for my phone adapter,” said Jones by email. “You do sometimes see reviews for slightly different items appear on a listing, but this was definitely a new one for me.”Jones had likely stumbled across something called “review hijacking”—a way that...WW…

By Leon Yin and Aaron SankinViewable online atThis article contains graphically sexual language.Google’s Keywords Planner, which helps advertisers choose which search terms to associate with their ads, offered hundreds of keyword suggestions related to “Black girls,” “Latina girls,” and “Asian Girls”—the majority of them pornographic, The Markup found in its research.Searches in the keyword planner for “boys” of those same ethnicities also primarily returned suggestions related to pornography.Searches for “White girls” and “White boys,” however, returned no suggested terms at all.A keyword...…By Leon Yin and Aaron SankinViewable online atThis article contains graphically sexual language.Google’s Keywords Planner, which helps advertisers choose which search terms to associate with their ads, offered hundreds of keyword suggestions related to “Black girls,” “Latina girls,” and “Asian Girls”—the majority of them pornographic, The Markup found in its research.Searches in the keyword planner for “boys” of those same ethnicities also primarily returned suggestions related to pornography.Searches for “White girls” and “White boys,” however, returned no suggested terms at all.A keyword...WW…

By Colin LecherViewable online atIn 2010, California hired the consulting firm Deloitte to overhaul the state website people use to apply for unemployment benefits. Things didn’t go well: Later that year, technical errors led to the halting of payments for some 300,000 people, . And, the paper reported that, at $110 million, the final cost of the system was almost double the initial estimate.A decade later, the taxed, aging system built by Deloitte in California is again, this time under the strain of new applicants put out of work by the pandemic.But Deloitte still won a fresh contract...…By Colin LecherViewable online atIn 2010, California hired the consulting firm Deloitte to overhaul the state website people use to apply for unemployment benefits. Things didn’t go well: Later that year, technical errors led to the halting of payments for some 300,000 people, . And, the paper reported that, at $110 million, the final cost of the system was almost double the initial estimate.A decade later, the taxed, aging system built by Deloitte in California is again, this time under the strain of new applicants put out of work by the pandemic.But Deloitte still won a fresh contract...WW…

By Jeremy B. Merrill and Aaron SankinViewable online atAs confrontations between Black Lives Matter protesters and police erupted across the country earlier this month, some Oregonians, mostly older people, saw a Facebook ad pushing a headline about how a Republican politician “Wants Martial Law To Control The Obama-Soros Antifa Supersoldiers.”Needless to say, there was no army of left-wing “supersoldiers” marching across Oregon, nor were former president Barack Obama and billionaire George Soros known to be funding anything antifa-related. And the politician in question didn’t actually say...…By Jeremy B. Merrill and Aaron SankinViewable online atAs confrontations between Black Lives Matter protesters and police erupted across the country earlier this month, some Oregonians, mostly older people, saw a Facebook ad pushing a headline about how a Republican politician “Wants Martial Law To Control The Obama-Soros Antifa Supersoldiers.”Needless to say, there was no army of left-wing “supersoldiers” marching across Oregon, nor were former president Barack Obama and billionaire George Soros known to be funding anything antifa-related. And the politician in question didn’t actually say...WW…

By Aaron SankinViewable online atLast week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a post about COVID-19 circulating on Facebook.“We’ve taken down hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation related to COVID-19, including theories like drinking bleach cures the virus or that physical distancing is ineffective at preventing the disease from spreading,” Zuckerberg wrote.But at the very same time, The Markup found, Facebook was allowing advertisers to profit from ads targeting people that the company believes are interested in “pseudoscience.” According to Facebook’s ad portal, the...…By Aaron SankinViewable online atLast week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a post about COVID-19 circulating on Facebook.“We’ve taken down hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation related to COVID-19, including theories like drinking bleach cures the virus or that physical distancing is ineffective at preventing the disease from spreading,” Zuckerberg wrote.But at the very same time, The Markup found, Facebook was allowing advertisers to profit from ads targeting people that the company believes are interested in “pseudoscience.” According to Facebook’s ad portal, the...WW…

By Adrianne Jeffries, Leon Yin, and Surya MattuViewable online atPete Buttigieg is leading at 63 percent. Andrew Yang came in second at 46 percent. And Elizabeth Warren looks like she’s in trouble with 0 percent.These aren’t poll numbers for the U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential contest. Instead, they reflect which candidates were able to consistently land in Gmail’s primary inbox in a simple test. The Markup set up a new Gmail account to find out how the company filters political email from candidates, think tanks, advocacy groups, and nonprofits. We found that few of...…By Adrianne Jeffries, Leon Yin, and Surya MattuViewable online atPete Buttigieg is leading at 63 percent. Andrew Yang came in second at 46 percent. And Elizabeth Warren looks like she’s in trouble with 0 percent.These aren’t poll numbers for the U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential contest. Instead, they reflect which candidates were able to consistently land in Gmail’s primary inbox in a simple test. The Markup set up a new Gmail account to find out how the company filters political email from candidates, think tanks, advocacy groups, and nonprofits. We found that few of...WW…

By Adrianne JeffriesViewable online atAt first, the COVID-19 pandemic seemed like a perfect fit for food delivery apps. Restaurants in states with lockdown orders now depend completely on delivery and takeout, while public health authorities are telling consumers to stay indoors. The consumer-facing delivery apps—Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates, and DoorDash—offer a convenient solution for both parties, accelerating the move to the tech-centric, gig-economy-powered Delivery World of tomorrow.It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Instead, some consumers are walking away from delivery apps,...…By Adrianne JeffriesViewable online atAt first, the COVID-19 pandemic seemed like a perfect fit for food delivery apps. Restaurants in states with lockdown orders now depend completely on delivery and takeout, while public health authorities are telling consumers to stay indoors. The consumer-facing delivery apps—Grubhub, Uber Eats, Postmates, and DoorDash—offer a convenient solution for both parties, accelerating the move to the tech-centric, gig-economy-powered Delivery World of tomorrow.It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Instead, some consumers are walking away from delivery apps,...WW…