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Facebook's heavy-handedness could open a window for research in the public interest.
Early this August, Facebook shut down the personal and organizational accounts of researchers associated with New York University's Ad Observatory, a project in which informed volunteers allow study of advertising targeted to their accounts. Facebook said its move was necessary to "protect people's privacy" and to comply with orders from the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC gave an unusually public response. It published a statement saying that its restrictions do not bar "good-faith research in the public interest".
This marks an opportunity for anyone who thinks that social media's effects on democracy and society should be open to scrutiny. It is time to lay down ground rules to empower public-interest research on social media.
In a collaboration with Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism in New York City, I and other colleagues interviewed dozens of researchers, journalists and activists who study how social-media platforms affect democratic participation. Almost all named barriers to data access as a major obstacle, even those who helped to design Social Science One, a highly touted academia-industry partnership to study the spread of misinformation.
Researchers have techniques for dealing with the lack of information the platforms provide, although many such techniques are vulnerable...