Citizen Browser
One Year After the Capitol Riot, Americans Still See Two Very Different Facebooks
Data from The Markup’s Citizen Browser shows the platform’s partisan divide continues
Leon Yin
Investigative Data Journalist
Leon Yin translates story ideas into testable hypotheses—the cornerstone of our journalism. He builds bespoke datasets and uses interdisciplinary methods to report on technology. Leon left The Markup in July 2023.
His reporting of Google search’s self-referential results was cited in the opening remarks of a congressional hearing on tech giants and antitrust. In 2022, he won a Gerald Loeb Award for Personal Finance and Consumer Reporting with Adrianne Jeffries for their series, “Amazon’s Advantage.”
Before joining The Markup, he was a research scientist at NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics, a research affiliate at the Data & Society Research Institute, and a software engineer at NASA.
Amazon’s Advantage
Introducing Amazon Brand Detector
A browser extension that reveals Amazon brand and exclusive products while you shop on the site
Show Your WorkCitizen Browser
How We Investigated Facebook’s Most Popular Content
We found that Facebook's popularity metric obscures how well ultra-conservative content does on the platform
Citizen Browser
Facebook Isn’t Telling You How Popular Right-Wing Content Is on the Platform
Facebook insists that mainstream news sites perform the best on its platform. But by other measures, sensationalist, partisan content reigns
Show Your WorkAmazon’s Advantage
How We Analyzed Amazon’s Treatment of Its “Brands” in Search Results
We found that Amazon routinely puts its own brands and exclusive products first, above competitors with better ratings and more reviews
Amazon’s Advantage
Amazon Puts Its Own “Brands” First Above Better-Rated Products
The online giant gives a leg up to hundreds of house brand and exclusive products that most people don’t know are connected to Amazon
Amazon’s Advantage
When Amazon Takes the Buy Box, It Doesn’t Give It Up
Many merchants sell the exact same item, including Amazon, which picks a winner–often itself
Citizen Browser
Germany’s Far-Right Political Party, the AfD, Is Dominating Facebook This Election
Ahead of a national vote this month, Citizen Browser data shows that posts promoting the AfD party appeared more than three times as often as rivals'
Citizen Browser
Facebook Rolls Out News Feed Change That Blocks Watchdogs from Gathering Data
The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform
Citizen Browser
How The Daily Wire Uses Facebook’s Targeted Advertising to Build Its Brand
The social media giant's powerful targeting tools appear to be part of Ben Shapiro’s success in growing his audience on the platform
Page 2 of 5