Websites Break California Privacy Law at ‘Industrial Scale,’ Survey Finds
A new audit by webXray examined over 7,000 popular websites and found widespread failure to honor California’s Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal. Major tech firms—Google, Microsoft and Meta—ignored the opt‑out request in 86%, 50% and 69% of cases respectively, suggesting industrial‑scale non‑compliance. The California Privacy Protection Agency could levy billions of dollars in fines if it enforces penalties across the identified sites. Companies dispute the findings, claiming technical nuances in their privacy implementations.
Background Checks to Curb Dating App Violence Advance in California Legislature
California’s Senate public‑safety committee approved Bill SB1390, mandating that dating apps run criminal background checks on users residing in the state. If a user is a registered sex offender or convicted of a violent felony, domestic violence, assault or hate...
The Markup Wins SABEW Award for Best in Business Journalism
The Markup’s 18‑month investigation into Tinder, Hinge and parent Match Group earned the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s 2025 Best in Business award in the technology category. By analyzing internal documents, court filings and survivor interviews, the series...
Following Markup Investigation, Congress Finds Data Brokers Cost Consumers Tens of Billions of Dollars
A Congressional Joint Economic Committee report estimates that data‑broker breaches have cost American consumers roughly $20.8 billion. The analysis, sparked by investigations from The Markup and CalMatters, links the loss to four major breaches that exposed over 650 million records in the...
California Tried to Protect Students’ Data. Tech Companies Found Loopholes
California is drafting Assembly Bill 1159 to tighten student data privacy after tech companies have exploited loopholes in the state’s 2014 education privacy law. The bill would expand the definition of education‑technology products, restrict AI use of student data, and...