Facebook urges researchers to remove 'research tools for visualization of political advertising'

by Spencer E Holtaway

Since fake news on SNS seems to have had a major impact on the 2016 US presidential election, various efforts are being made before the US presidential election in November 2020. Researchers at New York University have developed a tool to visualize who political ads on Facebook are targeted and how they are displayed, but Facebook 'disables the tool and removes the collected information.' Has received great criticism for demanding researchers.

Facebook Seeks Shutdown of NYU Research Project Into Political Ad Targeting --WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-seeks-shutdown-of-nyu-research-project-into-political-ad-targeting-11603488533

Facebook demands academics disable ad-targeting data tool
https://apnews.com/article/media-social-media-76247e67b19ca0cd77f2732f84f489d5

On October 23, 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook was trying to ban the tool ' Ad Observer ' created by researchers at New York University. Ad Observer has released Google Chrome extension and Firefox add-on, and when research volunteers add Ad Observer to the browser, information on political advertisements displayed on Facebook will be sent to researchers, You will be able to see what kind of political advertisements and fake information are on the market. Demon McCoy, one of the research teams, said that Ad Observer 'how advertisers use Facebook-profiled data' and 'to influence elections and suppress voters.' , How misinformation about candidates and policies is transmitted ”will be clarified.

Ad Observer --Ad Observer
https://adobserver.org/

The information collected by the researchers is published on the following pages.

Ad Observatory by NYU Tandon School of Engineering
https://adobservatory.org/

Researchers released the tool on September 3, but on October 16, Facebook executive Alison Hendrix sent a letter to researchers to disable the tool and delete the information it gathered. It was. According to Hendrix, Ad Observer violates the 'Terms Prohibiting Automatic Collection of Information on Facebook.' If Ad Observer isn't disabled by November 30, Facebook says it will 'take further action.'

There are many opposition to Facebook's actions. Attorney Ramya Krishnan said, 'In this election, one of the most important elections in American history, Facebook's attempt to remove tools to detect disinformation is a problem. People have the right to know if they are the target. Facebook should not be the gatekeeper of information that protects our democracy. '

In addition Mr. journalist Julia Angwin also of 'New York University Ad Observatory, with respect to political ads on Facebook, researchers of information micro-targeting in that it is the only way you can check the .Facebook is trying to remove it I was very disappointed, 'he posted on Facebook.

The NYU Ad Observatory is the only window researchers have to see microtargeting information about political ads on Facebook.

Very disappointing to see that Facebook is trying to shut that down. Https://t.co/WDEPmvlQBG

— Julia Angwin (@JuliaAngwin) October 24, 2020

Facebook has long restricted researchers from accessing their platforms. In 2019, 200 researchers have written that they should be able to automatically collect data from the platform for the public good.

Call on Facebook to lift restrictions on digital research and journalism on its platform
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLcoINv_uMedadkMvp4ZUSLmayCLQZPKQcbiV1cnGXtpy_4Q/viewform

In addition, Facebook has also concerned about the risk of confusion occurs with respect to the United States presidential election of November 2020, Mark Zuckerberg CEO 'at least some kind of violence there is a potential to happen,' he says . For this reason, Facebook has also announced that it will block political advertising a week before the presidential election .

In addition to this, Facebook plans to take new strategies such as slowing the spread of posts, changing the algorithm of the news feed, and changing the rules that determine the content to be deleted. thing. Facebook has a history of being pointed out by the United Nations as 'a hotbed of discrimination against the Rohingya in Myanmar,' and these strategies have been used in so-called 'risk countries,' including Myanmar. I will.

Facebook Prepares Measures for Possible Election Unrest --WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-prepares-measures-for-possible-election-unrest-11603651659

Facebook reportedly bracing for US election chaos with tools designed for'at-risk' countries --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/25/21533352/facebook-us-election-chaos-at-risk-countries-trump