Gardner denied changing the mission, telling The New York Times, "We are, pure and simple, a news outlet, we always have been and always will be.

"[5][6] In May 2019, Newmark announced that Gardner and Larson had left The Markup, and there were reports about plans to bring back Angwin as editor-in-chief.

[7][8] On August 6, 2019, The Markup announced that Angwin would return as editor-in-chief, along with Nabiha Syed as president and much of the original team – but without Larson or Gardner.

[15][16][17] In response, a class action lawsuit was filed by H&R Block customers against Meta, who accused the tech company of violating users' privacy rights.

[18] Senator Elizabeth Warren and representatives Katie Porter and Brad Sherman sent letters to the tax companies, as well as Meta and Google, to warn against such behavior.