Researchers from New York University conducting a study on the spread of misinformation on Facebook said that the social media behemoth curtailed their research and went as far as removing their personal accounts.
According to a CNN report, the study — conducted between August 2020 and January 2021 — found that Facebook posts containing misinformation amassed six times more clicks than posts with factual news.
Facebook said that the decision to deplatform the researchers was related to another study on political ads. In a statement, the firm's Product Management Director, Mike Clark, said that the University used "unauthorised means" to access and collect data from Facebook, violating its terms of service.
The 'unauthorised means' in question is a browser extension that allowed users to anonymously share political ads on Facebook with the researchers. The study's lead researcher, Laura Edelson, however, questioned the decision, point out that the extension was still available for download.
Edelson also noticed and pointed out to the Mark Zuckerberg-helmed company that thousands of posts related to the January 6 Capital attack were missing on Crowdtangle, a Facebook-owned research tool. She said that they were seemingly not aware of this and that it took multiple exchanges with them to acknowledge it.
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