The Independent View: Facebook Seeks Shutdown of NYU Research Project Into Political Ad Targeting

Facebook is Demanding that a New York University (NYU) Research Project cease Collecting Data about its Political-Ad Targeting Practices, setting up a Fight with Academics seeking to Study the Platform without the Company’s Permission.

The Dispute involves the NYU Ad Observatory, a Project launched last month by the University’s Engineering School that has Recruited more than 6,500 Volunteers to use a Specially Designed Browser Extension to Collect Data about the Political Ads Facebook shows them.

In a Letter sent Oct. 16th to the Researchers behind the NYU Ad Observatory, Facebook said the Project Violates Provisions in its Terms of Service that Prohibit Bulk data Collection from its Site.

“Scraping tools, no matter how well-intentioned, are not a permissible means of collecting information from us,” said the Letter, written by a Facebook Privacy Policy Official, Allison Hendrix. If the university doesn’t end the project and delete the data it has collected, she wrote, “you may be subject to additional enforcement action.”

The Clash between the Social-Media Giant and a Major Research University comes at a time of Heightened Scrutiny over Political Advertising on Social Media ahead of next month’s U.S. Election.

Facebook in recent weeks has said it would Bar New Political Ads ahead of Election Day and Suspend All Political Ads Indefinitely to Prevent the Spread of Paid Misinformation about the Election Outcome.

Following a furor about the Opaque nature of Political Advertising in the 2016 Presidential Campaign, Facebook launched an Archive of Advertisements that run on its Platform, with Information such as, who paid for an ad, when it ran, and the Geographic Location of People who saw it. But that Library excludes Information about the Targeting that Determines who sees the Ads.

The Researchers behind the NYU Ad Observatory said they wanted to Provide Journalists, Researchers, Policy Makers, and others with the Ability to Search Political Ads by State and Contest to see what Messages are Targeted to Specific Audiences and how those Ads are Funded.