Facebook has deactivated the accounts of researchers from New York University’s Ad Observatory who were examining misinformation, citing a violation of the company’s regulations on automated data collecting. The researchers claim that Facebook blocked their access because their research, which focused on false political adverts and vaccination disinformation, had brought the corporation bad exposure. The suspension is the culmination of years of conflict between researchers and the platform. Researchers say that they should be exempt from Facebook’s policy prohibiting the automatic collecting of data since it contains significant information about how the corporation affects democracy and social concerns in the United States.
Source: https://www.cyberscoop.com/facebook-nyu-research-misinformation/
