Facebook demands a university research project shut down
 

You must not research us

Social notworking site Facebook is demanding that a New York University research project cease collecting data about its political-ad targeting practices.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook thinks that academics should be banned from studying the platform without the company's permission.

The NYU Ad Observatory, a project launched last month by the university's engineering school that has recruited more than 6,500 volunteers to use a specially designed browser extension to collect data about the political ads Facebook shows them.

Ironically the move appears to have come from Facebook privacy policy official, Allison Hendrix, who thinks the tool violates provisions in its terms of service that prohibit bulk data collection from its site.

"Scraping tools, no matter how well-intentioned, are not a permissible means of collecting information from us. If the university does not end the project and delete the data it has collected you may be subject to additional enforcement action", she said.

https://fudzilla.com/news/51762-face...ject-shut-down