Consumer Reports receives $6 million gift from Newmark

Craig Newmark Philanthropies has given $6 million to Consumer Reports, allowing it to keep a closer watch over digital products and platforms, reports Marc Tracy of The New York Times. It is the largest donation in the history of the organization, which was established in 1936.

Tracy reports, “Consumer Reports, a lion of public-service journalism that can claim, among other things, to have spread early awareness of the dangers of cigarettes in the 1950s, announced on Thursday the creation of a Digital Lab division. Built on the gift from Mr. Newark’s foundation, the lab will be crash-testing not cars but the digital tools that have become a part of everyday life.

“Marta L. Tellado, the Consumer Reports chief executive, said the lab would allow the publication, known for its rigorous, impartial critiques, to apply its longstanding principles to a new set of consumer problems.

“‘Companies like Google and Facebook have shown that while they’re offering great conveniences, they aren’t always policing themselves, and a lot of our laws are not keeping pace with innovations,’ Ms. Tellado said.”

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