Facebook Attempts to Halt Research Project on Presidential Election Advertising
Facebook has threatened to stop a research project by New York University (NYU) that investigates political advertising during the 2020 US presidential election. The Ad Observatory project collects statistics on the political ads shown to 6,500 participants using a browser extension. This allows researchers to track which ads are displayed in individual states or to specific target groups. The data also reveals how much money Joe Biden and Donald Trump spend on Facebook advertising each week. In response to the study, Facebook’s privacy officer, Allison Hendrix, wrote to NYU, stating that “scraping tools, no matter how well-intentioned, are not an acceptable means of collecting information from us.” She demanded that the research project be stopped immediately and all data collected be deleted. Facebook threatened “additional enforcement measures” if this did not happen, but did not specify what these measures would be.
Following a report by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook has issued a statement saying that the Ad Observatory project will not be restricted until well after the November 4th election. There has been resistance to Facebook’s threatened enforcement measures from politicians, including Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, who criticized Facebook for making it “harder for Americans to get information about political ads.” Klobuchar called such behavior unacceptable during an election campaign. Facebook claims that information about political advertising can be obtained through the Ad Library, which was created as part of the transparency initiative in response to the 2016 presidential election. However, independent research groups have criticized the Ad Library for providing inadequate data. In addition, during the 2019 European elections, the same queries produced different results. Laura Edelson of NYU stated that “one could simply call the Ad Library broken.”
Facebook’s attempt to halt the Ad Observatory project has raised concerns about the company’s commitment to transparency and accountability. The project’s findings could provide valuable insights into how political advertising is used to influence voters and how much money is spent on such advertising. The threat of enforcement measures against the researchers has also raised questions about Facebook’s willingness to allow independent research into its practices. The controversy surrounding the Ad Observatory project highlights the need for greater transparency and accountability in the use of social media for political advertising.
