Analysis: Facebook appears to be adding code to interfere with automated data collection of News Feed posts by researchers, such as NYU's Ad Observatory
The tweak, which targets the code in accessibility features for visually impaired users, drew ire from researchers and those who monitor the platform Tweets: @themarkup , @joeosborne , @jared_w_smith , @tonyromm , @mattblaze , @juliaangwin , @juliaangwin , @justinhendrix , @anthony , @themarkup , @juliaangwin , @themarkup , @quinnypig , and @juliaangwin See also Mediagazer Tweets: @themarkup : NEW: Facebook is changing its website code in a way that makes automated data collection of news feed posts—a technique researchers and journalists use to audit the platform—more difficult. https://themarkup.org/... Joe Osborne / @joeosborne : @JuliaAngwin ... Sharing stmt here as it didn't make your story: We constantly make code changes across our services, but we did not make any code changes to block these research projects. Our accessibility features largely appear to be working as normal, however we are investigating the claim. Jared Smith / @jared_w_smith : This is VERY alarming! Facebook has started using ARIA markup, HTML obfuscation, and “hidden” content to bypass ad blockers and block analysis of ad content - exploiting web standards and accessibility techniques as a weapon against transparency. https://themarkup.org/... Tony Romm / @tonyromm : Facebook a) makes it hard for government to keep watch over its service and b) is cutting off the ability of researchers to give us a better glimpse into what is actually happening https://themarkup.org/... Matt Blaze / @mattblaze : There are two possible reasons for FB to block researchers from collecting this data. One is that they don't want to know what the researchers will find. The other is that they already know what they'll find but don't want you to know. https://twitter.com/... Julia Angwin / @juliaangwin : Facebook comment on our article (which they did not provide in time for publication) https://themarkup.org/... https://twitter.com/... Julia Angwin / @juliaangwin : @themarkup @corintxt “It is contemptible that Facebook would misuse accessibility features for users with disabilities just to foil legitimate research and journalism,” Sen. @RonWyden told @themarkup. Justin Hendrix / @justinhendrix : The Markup has found evidence Facebook is adding changes to its code to foil automated data collection of news feed posts—a technique that groups like NYU's Ad Observatory, The Markup & other researchers and journalists use to audit it, reports @corintxt: https://themarkup.org/... Anthony DeRosa / @anthony : In an effort to block researchers and journalists from auditing what happens on Facebook on a large scale, Facebook damaged the user experience for people who are visually impaired https://themarkup.org/... @themarkup : These changes attach junk code to HTML features meant to improve accessibility for visually impaired users. So not only does this code interfere with data collection, it risks making the platform less accessible. Julia Angwin / @juliaangwin : Facebook has changed its code to thwart data collection from researchers like NYU Ad Observatory & @themarkup's Citizen Browser project. And they are doing it by interfering with features used by visually impaired users. @corintxt reports: https://themarkup.org/... @themarkup : The update hasn't been rolled out to all users yet, so the impacts are still unclear. So far, our developers found at least one instance where a screen reader read aloud a string of junk code as an unintelligible word. https://twitter.com/... Corey Quinn / @quinnypig : “You knew what I was when you picked me up” said the piece of shit to your now filthy shit-encrusted hand. https://twitter.com/... Julia Angwin / @juliaangwin : @themarkup ... “I think it's unfortunate that Facebook is continuing to fight with researchers rather than work with them,” @LauraEdelson2 told @themarkup. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the third act in a familiar sequence. In 2019, researchers reported that Facebook had weakened or disabled the tools they use to track political ads just as campaign spending ramped up, and last month Berlin-based AlgorithmWatch said it abandoned its Instagram monitoring project after legal threats from Facebook. Now The Markup reports that code embedded in accessibility features for visually impaired users — the same features blind users have long criticized as buggy — appears to be interfering with automated News Feed collection by projects like NYU's Ad Observatory.
What makes this round different is both method and target: rather than cutting off an API or sending lawyers, Facebook allegedly laced assistive markup with junk code, hitting researchers and visually impaired users through the same channel. Facebook denies making changes to block research and says accessibility features appear to be working normally while it investigates — so the dispute turns on whether a core auditing technique can survive inside code Facebook controls.
First-order effects
- NYU's Ad Observatory and comparable audit projects lose their main pipeline into News Feed posts, degrading real-time scrutiny of political ads and misinformation exactly when it matters for research timelines.
- Blind users are collateral damage: any degradation of ARIA-based features lands on the population that already documented persistent accessibility gaps on the platform.
Second-order effects
- Researchers pushed off automated collection shift toward costlier panel-based methods like The Markup's own Citizen Browser, concentrating independent auditing in fewer hands with smaller sample sizes.
- Facebook's denial puts its accessibility team in an awkward spot — if the code change is real, fixing it means choosing between assistive-tech reliability and the blocking effect, forcing a visible trade-off between two commitments the company claims are unrelated.
Third-order effects
- If junk-code interference proves out, it establishes a template where platform-side code becomes an enforcement tool against outside measurement — no takedown letter required, just a change researchers cannot distinguish from a bug.
- The structural endpoint is platform-monopolized observability: independent audits atrophy until the only account of what circulates in the feed is the one Facebook itself publishes, which prior coverage has shown can obscure as much as it reveals.
The trend: Platforms are progressively converting outside researchers' access to public feeds into a privilege granted or revoked unilaterally, making independent auditing of social media dependent on each platform's tolerance rather than on stable technical access.