Facebook asks NYU Ad Observatory, which analyzes political ad targeting using data collected from a browser extension, to cease the practice for violating TOS

In letter this month, Facebook says the project violates provisions in its terms of service that prohibit bulk data collection

Wall Street Journal 2020-10-25 Jeff Horwitz

Discussion

@lauraedelson2 Laura Edelson on x
A week ago, Facebook sent me a C&D asking us to take down AdObserver and delete our data. The public has a right to know how political ads are targeted, so we will not be complying with this request. Please consider installing https://adobserver.org/
@alexanderabdo Alex Abdo on x
This is a disturbing development. Last Friday, Facebook sent a cease-and-desist letter to two NYU researchers (@LauraEdelson2 and Damon McCoy), demanding that they shut down their research into political ads and disinformation on FB's platform. https://www.wsj.com/...
@jeremybmerrill Jeremy B. Merrill on x
Facebook promised to stop selling discriminatory job ads. I showed in August that they're still doing it anyways. Now Facebook is making legal threats to shut down #AdObservatory —the only project that lets us keep them honest. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll David Carroll on x
Facebook sends its attack dogs against the NYU Ad Observatory for its essential work studying effects of ad targeting on the political process. This is disgusting, especially knowing there are actual data abusers out there actually selling Facebook data to political operatives. h…
@emilybell Emily Bell on x
Facebook are relentlessly resistant, obstructive and happy to use legal means to suppress legitimate independent research on their platform - must read thread from @knightcolumbia 's @AlexanderAbdo https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
Facebook is remarkably creative in finding ways to prove it is a dangerous threat to our society. https://www.wsj.com/...
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
Also amazing & hilarious detail. Last week we discovered Allison Hendrix was Facebook exec who failed to ensure Cambridge Analytica deleted FB data. Failed to do any due diligence whatsoever. Guess what?? She's in exact same role today. And she's the exec who took this decision h…
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
This is not a fight that Facebook should be having: Facebook Seeks Shutdown of NYU Research Project Into Political Ad Targeting - WSJ https://www.wsj.com/...
@jmorriscal Jonathan Morris on x
@matthewstoller Considering that the whole enterprise that is now Facebook originated in scraping Harvard directory photos, I find this hilarious.
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
Ooh, 👏👏👏. This is the lead researcher on NYU project Facebook is trying to shut down. Laura is fighting back!! https://twitter.com/...
@monteiro @monteiro on x
Facebook workers, this is where you put your labor. Choose a better path. Your children will thank you. https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
OMG, Facebook. WTH are you thinking??!!?? This isn't personal data. You're literally threatening the few outside researchers attempting to assist the public in holding you accountable after you covered up your 2016 failures and pushed to avoid outside accountability. Disturbing. …
@hypervisible @hypervisible on x
It will come as a shock to no one that Facebook has cited user privacy as the reason they must clamp down on this project. 😬 https://www.wsj.com/...
@carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x
This is so outrageous. This project is run by @FBoversight member @LauraEdelson2 who has been doing critical work scrutinising Facebook's ads in run-up to election. Now Facebook has sent her a cease & desist letter https://www.wsj.com/...
@alexanderabdo Alex Abdo on x
If Facebook were truly committed to research into its platform, it would create a safe harbor within its terms of service for research that is manifestly in the public interest and that protects user privacy. We proposed just that two years ago. https://knightcolumbia.org/...
@professorshaw Tamsin Shaw on x
Such an outrageous move by Facebook, even in a climate where our threshhold for outrage is getting to be pretty high https://www.wsj.com/...
@tonyromm Tony Romm on x
Facebook cannot tell everyone it is committed to openness and transparency on ads and then penalize people who put that to the test https://twitter.com/...
@lauraedelson2 Laura Edelson on x
I wrote about why we built this and some of our preliminary observations here: https://medium.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@slightlylate Alex Russell on x
Argument for: maybe they're enforcing their policies now? Just in time! Argument against: Imagine having so little faith that your own practices standing up to scrutiny that you try to block mere observation of them. https://twitter.com/...
@markscott82 Mark Scott on x
With just over a week before US election, @facebook is pushing to stop a digital tool that promotes transparency around online political ads https://www.politico.com/...
@katecrawford Kate Crawford on x
The Streisand effect might turn this into the biggest study of political ad targeting yet.👇 If you're on Facebook, consider joining 👁️ https://twitter.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Tired: BuzzFeed reporting leaked internal and brutal self-assessments on how news organizations need evolve. Wired: WSJ's countless reports uncovering Facebook's public disruptions. This time threatening academics digging into its sometimes toxic microtargeting of political ads. …
@markwarner Mark Warner on x
For several years now, I have emphasized the importance of empowering researchers, who are frequently the first to identify and track new social media platforms' abuses. https://www.politico.com/...
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
good thread. this is classic Facebook. Look the other way if it involves allies in power. Attack if it potentially exposes you. https://twitter.com/...
@digiphile Alex Howard on x
Bad faith: @facebook has claimed for years that it wants journalists, watchdogs, & academics to use its political ad archive, but it's trying to stop @nyuniversity researchers from collecting bulk data? Self-regulation is not enough. https://e-pluribusunum.org/... https://twitter…
@moonalice Roger McNamee on x
When FB shuts something down because of privacy concerns, you can be confident that the privacy in question is that of the powerful, often FB itself. https://www.wsj.com/...
@profcarroll @profcarroll on x
We will stand up to Facebook's double-standard where data brokers scrape and sell Facebook profiles to the GOP and get away with it while rigorous academics legitimately recruit volunteers to study ad targeting get bullied because they help reveal to the public how Facebook works…
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
This is now relevant to this thread from yesterday about Facebook and microtargeted political ads. Facebook's refusal to change its rules concurrent with blocking researchers monitoring it gives me a very, very bad feeling. https://twitter.com/...
@anthony @anthony on x
Facebook is demanding that a 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. https://www.wsj.com/...
@jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x
In timing I do not understand, Facebook demanded that NYU researchers call off their volunteer-driven collection of data on political ad targeting two weeks ahead of the US election: https://www.wsj.com/...
@2ramyakrishnan Ramya Krishnan on x
Facebook is trying to shut down a political ad transparency tool *wait for it* in the run up to one of the most consequential elections in US history. The tool, built by NYU researchers, is relied on by dozens of local journalists and civil society groups. https://www.wsj.com/...
@srussolillo Steven Russolillo on x
Facebook is demanding that a ⁦@nyuniversity⁩ research project stop collecting data about its political-ad targeting practices, setting up a fight with academics seeking to study the platform without the company's permission. https://www.wsj.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
The day we write about how Facebook's ad system is screwing up and not labeling some political ads, based on research from NYU, Facebook sends NYU a cease-and-desist letter. So much for transparency. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@whotargetsme Who Targets Me on x
This seems to happen in every election now, where FB misses some political ads and they don't get properly labelled and added to their Ad Library. The question is how they actually get missed... https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
@2ramyakrishnan Ramya Krishnan on x
As I say here, the public has a right to know what political ads are being run on Facebook and how they are being targeted. Facebook shouldn't be allowed to be the gatekeeper to information necessary to safeguard our democracy. https://apnews.com/...
@doctorow @doctorow on x
#AdObservatory is an NYU project that enlists Facebook users to record the ads they see, building a database of the ads Facebook runs and to check whether Facebook is adhering to its own policies, for example, on labeling and limiting political ads https://adobservatory.org/ 1/ h…
@dellcam Dell Cameron on x
Facebook threatens academic researchers examining the way it targets users with political ads; says “enforcement actions” may follow if they don't delete their findings. https://www.wsj.com/...
@ethanz Ethan Zuckerman on x
A very bad look for Facebook - https://www.wsj.com/.... Understanding how political ads are targeted on FB is of public and academic interest. And recruiting volunteers to donate data is a responsible way to get this data. We need a safe harbor for researchers.
@earleyedition Dave Earley on x
Now FB is trying to shut down the @AdObserver tool. At @GuardianAus we used the @propublica plugin MULTIPLE times for #auspol election ad monitoring. Facebook tried to shut that down, too, making changes so it would stop working https://theguardian.com/... cc @NickEvershed @knaus…
@gchaslot Guillaume Chaslot on x
Dystopian world warning: Facebook is threatening to sue NYU researchers so they don't look at disinformation on their platform. We take these threats very seriously @Facebook Great thread with all the details here: https://twitter.com/...
@jameeljaffer Jameel Jaffer on x
Facebook shouldn't have a veto over research about Facebook, as ⁦@2ramyakrishnan⁩ says. This research is of immense value to the public right now, and Facebook's effort to squelch it should be a wake-up call to courts and congress. https://apnews.com/...
@doctorow @doctorow on x
Facebook has sent a legal threat to NYU demanding that they take down Ad Observatory and stop supporting the plugin (once again, this is a plugin that Facebook users choose to install specifically to hold the company to account). https://www.politico.com/... 4/
@random_walker Arvind Narayanan on x
Facebook is once again grotesquely using privacy as an excuse to shut down research into its platform that it finds inconvenient. Researchers who conduct this invaluable public-interest work do so at significant personal risk. They deserve all the support we can give them. https:…
@firefox @firefox on x
2020 has seen enough. The last thing we need is to watch FB repeat some of its same mistakes from 2016 leading up to this election. The third-party tools they're trying to shut down are the best option to get data people need to hold them accountable. https://www.politico.com/...…
@suehalpernvt Sue Halpern on x
Do not be fooled when Zuckerberg and Sandberg tell you they are liberal or progressive, personally, when their business decisions continually undermine liberal democracy. (Deeds, not words.) https://twitter.com/...
@pt Parker on x
I don't understand how Facebook has any claim to TOS violations against researchers collecting data this way. Even if they could ID users participating, are they really gonna send lawyers after them? This just seems like a stupid fight to pick with no win to be had. https://twitt…
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
Now imagine it's Oct 2016 and there are academic researchers at NYU who have a tool to cleanly monitor these ads, the microtargeting and provide actual outside accountability for Facebook. And Facebook is trying to shut it down just days before the election. /3 https://twitter.co…
@albertwenger Albert Wenger on x
Yet another example for why we need mandatory APIs for these systems (that cannot be shut down via ToS) https://continuations.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@markondefense Mark R. Jacobson on x
Once again ⁦@Facebook⁩ showing a lack of seriousness about fighting dark money, political manipulation, and disinformation. “Facebook tries to block tool aimed at promoting transparency around political ads” https://www.politico.com/...

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Facebook asks NYU Ad Observatory, which analyzes political ad targeting using data collected from a browser extension, to cease the practice for violating TOS

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