Tomas Apodaca

How Meta Brings in Millions Off Political Violence

A joint CalMatters/Markup investigation estimated Meta earns millions in ad revenue in the wake of violent news events, profiting from engagement surges around political violence.

Instagram Creators: Check If Your Posts Are 'Political'

After Meta stopped 'proactively recommending' political content, The Markup built a tool letting creators test whether their posts would be classified as political and thus algorithmically limited.

How Automated Content Moderation Works (Even When It Doesn't)

Explainer documenting the automated techniques (hash-matching, classifiers) platforms use to moderate billions of posts, and where these systems routinely fail.

Demoted, Deleted, and Denied: More Than Just Shadowbanning on Instagram

An investigation found Instagram heavily demoted nongraphic Israel-Hamas war images, deleted captions, hid comments without notification, and suppressed hashtags, well beyond classic 'shadowbanning.'