How Facebook Undermines Privacy Protections for Its 2 Billion WhatsApp Users

WhatsApp assures users that no one can see their messages — but the company has an extensive monitoring operation and regularly shares personal information with prosecutors. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Facebook Undermines Privacy Protections for Its 2B WhatsApp Users

WhatsApp assures users that no one can see their messages — but the company has an extensive monitoring operation and regularly shares personal information with prosecutors. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Boys in Custody and the Women Who Abuse Them

The nation’s system of juvenile justice has long been troubled. But recent studies have revealed a surprising new menace: female staffers at detention facilities sexually abusing the male youngsters in their care. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

An investigation into quality problems with a heart pump shows how hard it can be for patients to get the information they need to make life’s most important health care decisions. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The CDC Only Tracks a Fraction of Breakthrough Covid-19 Infections

A May 1 decision by the CDC to only track breakthrough infections that lead to hospitalization or death has left the nation with a muddled understanding of COVID-19's impact on the vaccinated. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Suit Seeks to Turn Arbitrations Against a Top Customer Service Provider

Arise Virtual Solutions has been accused of cheating its vast network of customer service agents. The suit, which cites ProPublica’s reporting, seeks a decision that could trigger a wave of tiny legal actions against Arise. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Mass Audubon got millions for “preserving” trees that were never in danger

The Massachusetts Audubon Society has managed its land as wildlife habitat for years. Here’s how the carbon credits it sold may have fueled climate change. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Secret IRS Files Reveal How Ultrawealthy Gained by Trump “Big Beautiful Tax Cut”

Billionaire business owners deployed lobbyists to make sure Trump’s 2017 tax bill was tailored to their benefit. Confidential IRS records show the windfall that followed. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Thousands of Patients Implanted with Heart Pumps FDA Knew Could Be Dangerous

Inspectors repeatedly found manufacturing and device quality problems with the HeartWare heart pump. But the FDA did not penalize the company, and patients had the device implanted on their hearts without knowing the facts. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

What Philadelphia Reveals About America’s Homicide Surge

There are many explanations for the rise in killings in U.S. cities, including the pandemic and the choices made in response to it. In Philadelphia, the causes, the human costs — and the suffering — are particularly stark. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The largest fraud wave in history? Unemployment insurance fraud during Covid

Bots filing bogus applications in bulk, teams of fraudsters in foreign countries making phony claims, online forums peddling how-to advice on identity theft: Inside the infrastructure of perhaps the largest fraud wave in history. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

How China Exports Repression Using a Network of Spies Hidden in Plain Sight

China sends covert teams abroad to bring back people accused — justifiably or not — of financial crimes. One New Jersey family was stalked as part of a global campaign that takes families hostage and pressures immigrants to serve as spies. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

“We’re Not Allowed to Hang Up”: The Harsh Reality of Working in Customer Service

In their own voices, seven customer service representatives reveal what it’s like being caught between abusive callers and demanding employers. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Campaign Spending at Trump Properties Down, but Not Out

New filings show federal political committees significantly scaled back spending at Trump-owned hotels and restaurants, though some loyalist campaigns remain. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes

Owners like Steve Ballmer can take the kinds of deductions on team assets — everything from media deals to player contracts — that industrialists take on factory equipment. That helps them pay lower tax rates than players and even stadium workers. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

A Banking App Has Been Suddenly Closing Accounts, Not Returning Customers’ Money

Chime, a “neobank” serving millions, is racking up complaints from users who can’t access their cash. The company says it’s cracking down on an “extraordinary surge” in fraudulent deposits. That’s little consolation to customers caught in the fray. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Company Got a $10MM PPP Loan, Then Closed Its Plant and Moved Jobs to Mexico

Many American businesses received millions in federal pandemic aid intended to protect workers, but exploited loopholes and rule changes to lay off those employees anyway. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The High Cost of Not Testing Backlogged Rape Kits

When reporter Catherine Rentz began looking at the criminal histories of men who’d been arrested for rape based on DNA evidence, she found a system that protected serial criminals rather than survivors. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Tax-Free Piggy Bank

Roth IRAs were intended to help average working Americans save, but IRS records show Thiel and other ultrawealthy investors have used them to amass vast untaxed fortunes. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Roth IRAs were intended to help average working Americans save, but IRS records show Thiel and other ultrawealthy investors have used them to amass vast untaxed fortunes. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

China Spreads Its Propaganda Version of Life for Uyghurs

Thousands of videos of Uyghurs denying abuses against their community are showing up on Twitter and YouTube. They’re part of an elaborate influence campaign by Chinese officials to counter reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

ProPublica investigation into the tax avoidance strategies used by billionaires

ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

We are disclosing the tax details of the richest Americans because we believe the public interest in an informed debate outweighs privacy considerations. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The Secret IRS Files

A massive trove of tax information obtained by ProPublica, covering thousands of America’s wealthiest individuals, reveals what’s inside the billionaires’ bag of tricks for minimizing their personal tax bills — sometimes to nothing. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

We Are Publishing the Tax Secrets of the .001% – ProPublica

We are disclosing the tax details of the richest Americans because we believe the public interest in an informed debate outweighs privacy considerations. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

“This Is How You Get Your Power Back”

Police had long since destroyed the evidence from their cases. Decades later, a group of women got a second chance at justice. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

How the U.S. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico

The inside story of a cartel’s deadly assault on a Mexican town near the Texas border — and the U.S. drug operation that sparked it. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places

An online lending platform called Kabbage sent 378 pandemic loans worth $7 million to fake companies (mostly farms) with names like “Deely Nuts” and “Beefy King.” | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places

An online lending platform called Kabbage sent 378 pandemic loans worth $7 million to fake companies (mostly farms) with names like “Deely Nuts” and “Beefy King.” | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

He Bought Health Insurance for Emergencies. Then He Fell into a $33,601 Trap

Since the Trump administration deregulated the health insurance industry, there’s been an explosion of short-term plans that leave patients with surprise bills and providers with huge revenue. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

A Crisis of Undiagnosed Cancers Is Emerging in the Pandemic’s Second Year

A factory worker didn’t want to call in sick or catch COVID-19, so she tried to ignore the pain. Now she has stage 4 cancer. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Texas Enabled the Worst Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Recent U.S. History

They used their car to stay warm when a winter storm brought down the Texas power grid. In a state that doesn’t require carbon monoxide alarms in homes, they had no warning they were poisoning themselves. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

What Police Impunity Looks Like: "There Was No Discipline as No Wrongdoing Was Found"

To understand why police are so rarely held accountable for killings, you should know about Kawaski Trawick, and what didn’t happen to the officer who shot him. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

As the winter’s surge of coronavirus cases overwhelmed Los Angeles hospitals, EMTs like Michael Diaz were forced to take previously unthinkable measures. What lasting impact will the pandemic have on America’s first responders? | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

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@propublica.org | 3 years ago

A Trump Tax Break To Help The Poor Went To a Rich GOP Donor's Superyacht Marina

Wealthy donors Wayne Huizenga Jr. and Jeff Vinik lobbied then-Gov. Rick Scott for the lucrative tax break — and won it. Poorer communities lost out. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers

In Hobbs, New Mexico, the high school closed and football was cancelled, while just across the state line in Texas, students seemed to be living nearly normal lives. Here’s how pandemic school closures exact their emotional toll on young people. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

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@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The IRS Cashed Her Check. Then the Late Notices Started Coming

A mountainous backlog of paperwork at the IRS continues to wreak havoc on America’s tax collection system — which especially hurts lower-income filers. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Facebook Execs Silenced an Enemy of Turkey to Prevent a Hit to the Company

Amid a 2018 Turkish military campaign, Facebook ultimately sided with Turkey’s demand to block the page of a mostly Kurdish militia. “I am fine with this,” Sandberg wrote. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

The Murder Chicago Didn’t Want to Solve

In 1963, a Black politician named Ben Lewis was shot to death in Chicago. Clues suggest the murder was a professional hit. Decades later, it remains no accident authorities never solved the crime. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

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@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Twenty-Six Words Created the Internet. What Will It Take to Save It?

Jeff Kosseff wrote the book on Section 230, the law that gave us the internet we have today. He talks with ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg about how we got here and how we should regulate our way out. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster

President Biden has promised enough doses for all American adults by this summer. There’s not much even the Defense Production Act can do to deliver doses before then. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather

Texas regulators and lawmakers knew about the grid’s vulnerabilities for years, but time and again they furthered the interests of large electricity providers. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 3 years ago

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@propublica.org | 3 years ago